clockwork

noun

clock·​work ˈkläk-ˌwərk 

1

: the inner workings of something

2

: the machinery (such as springs and a train of gears) that run a clock

also : a similar mechanism running a mechanical device (such as a toy)

3

: the precision, regularity, or absence of variation associated with a clock or clockwork

a clockwork operation

—used in the phrase like clockwork to describe something that happens or works in a regular and exact way

This type of star has a wonderful property: Its brightness waxes and wanes like clockwork…

—Ron Cowen

If everything went like clockwork, it would have taken a year to get items in stores.

—Brooks Barnes

Examples of clockwork in a Sentence

the clockwork inside a mechanical toy soldier

Recent Examples on the Web

Like clockwork, the Nittany Lions have lost the big game in recent years but will the trend continue here? —Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 8 Dec. 2024

Like clockwork, each leader left the work of steering the trade-reliant economy to the Bank of Korea. —William Pesek, Forbes, 6 Dec. 2024

Like clockwork, Swift showed up about 80 minutes before kick-off walking side-by-side with Donna Kelce, the mom of her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. —Bryan West, USA TODAY, 29 Nov. 2024

In Rockaway, those floods are primarily tidal floods — not raging storms but the combination of long-term sea-level rise and short-term ebb and flow of the waves as the moon orbits the earth, month after month, like clockwork. —Laura Thompson, Curbed, 22 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1628, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

clockwork

noun

clock·​work ˈkläk-ˌwərk 

: machinery (as in a mechanical toy) containing a set of small cogwheels