driving force

Idioms  

1. The impetus, power, or energy behind something in motion, as in He was clearly the driving force in the new administration. This term transfers the force that sets in motion an engine or vehicle to other enterprises. Ralph Waldo Emerson was among the first to use it figuratively (English Traits, 1856): “The ability of its journals is the driving force.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

driving force

It’s unlikely that, even if fraud occurred, she was the driving force behind any of it.

From Slate ● Oct. 13, 2026

Prosecutor Michael Bisgrove told the court Jogesh was the "driving force and the instigator" of the offending, while Morris, of Forest Drive in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, was "very much working for him".

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

It could be a last show for Saint Laurent's Belgian designer Anthony Vaccarello, who has been the driving force behind the brand's success for the past decade but is reportedly heading for the exit.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

The paper noted that he’s “best known as the driving force behind the effort to increase housing development in California.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

What is the driving force behind relativism and postmodernism?

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

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