spring-loaded
Americanadjective
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the lower right of the steering wheel, the metallic, spring-loaded Manettino selector engages one of five drive modes, including Sport mode and Electronic Stability Control Off.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026
"As the thinner sea ice expands and contracts more, it generates more momentum for the sea ice, just like one of those spring-loaded toy cars goes faster the farther back you pull it," explains Tandon.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 5, 2024
The story’s romance is appropriately spring-loaded with improbability.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 28, 2023
There was a whoosh of air as the spring-loaded gate valve opened.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2023
“I should have known it the moment I saw these fins. They’re spring-loaded because they have to snap out when this device leaves its storage tube.”
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
