How to Use spanner in a Sentence

spanner

noun
  • The charges against Luft are just the latest spanner in the works.
    Tori Otten, The New Republic, 11 July 2023
  • But the Covid-19 pandemic threw a spanner in the works.
    Niharika Sharma, Quartz India, 17 Nov. 2020
  • The spanner in the works turns out to be Joy (Colman), drunk and woozy on the back seat of the cab, with a weeks-old infant in tow.
    Guy Lodge, Variety, 28 July 2022
  • Yet the existence of these errors is the fatal spanner in the works of Mitchell's whole case.
    Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 7 July 2014
  • However, there is a factor that throws a spanner in the works.
    David Balaban, Forbes, 11 June 2021
  • On Wednesday evening in Doha, Al-Sadd threw a spanner in the works with a blunt statement.
    Tom Sanderson, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2021
  • Until the Covid-19 pandemic threw a spanner in the works, Giles had been growing from strength to strength.
    Austa Somvichian-Clausen, Robb Report, 1 Mar. 2023
  • However, protests, which began around the same time, threw a spanner in Adani’s gear.
    Niharika Sharma, Quartz, 28 Nov. 2022
  • However, the system itself may have thrown a spanner in the works.
    Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz India, 2 Apr. 2020
  • Making these fixes takes more than a spanner or some glue.
    Solitaire Townsend, Forbes, 13 Mar. 2022
  • Iran has also proffered ideas of its own that throw a spanner in the diplomatic works.
    Robin Wright, The New Yorker, 4 Jan. 2021
  • Everybody got the lockdown, and that really put a spanner in the works.
    Steve Appleford, SPIN, 6 Feb. 2023
  • The government had hoped things would be faster still, only for delays at Pfizer to put a spanner in the works.
    The Economist, 30 Dec. 2020
  • To most of the general public, short films are just the spanner that’ll always mess up your Oscars pool.
    Jada Yuan, Washington Post, 3 Feb. 2024
  • That put a spanner in the works of the recent rally, with the S&P 500 Index posting its worst week since September.
    Farah Elbahrawy, Fortune, 7 Nov. 2022
  • The design has been around for more than 30 years and the rifle comes with a small spanner wrench to assist with takedown and assembly.
    Richard Mann, Field & Stream, 25 Mar. 2020
  • There's only one spanner in the works -- one bridge near the Fenice, the Ponte Vecia Malvasia, will not have a ramp in this first round of construction.
    Julia Buckley, CNN, 17 Aug. 2021
  • The spread of the Covid-19 disease globally could throw a spanner in the works of Indians’ holiday plans.
    Manavi Kapur, Quartz India, 17 Feb. 2020
  • The Brits seem to be chafing at their status as an Oscar precursor, though, and they may be tempted to chuck a spanner in the works just for fun.
    Nate Jones, Vulture, 26 Mar. 2021
  • The report claims that monied PSG's interest could be a spanner in the works for Spurs, who will have to offer big to stay competitive in the race for the 22-year-old.
    SI.com, 22 June 2019
  • European politicians now fear a Magyar spanner in the works.
    Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 12 Dec. 2023
  • But a spanner is thrown into the works when the special guest before him, Kirsten Dunst, tells a story that involves the same highlights.
    Amel Mukhtar, Vogue, 2 Aug. 2022
  • Now, the recent spate of deaths could well put another spanner in TikTok’s India works.
    Manavi Kapur, Quartz India, 21 Aug. 2019
  • This threw a spanner in the works as far as the theory of human locomotion was concerned.
    Bill Hatcher, National Geographic, 28 Feb. 2016
  • This threw a spanner in the works as far as the theory of human locomotion was concerned.
    Bill Hatcher, National Geographic, 28 Feb. 2016
  • And even if she were ousted, the party membership could throw another spanner in the works during a vote.
    Karla Adam, Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2022
  • However, Juventus could wait until the summer and sign Eriksen for free, which may put a spanner in the works.
    SI.com, 5 Sep. 2019
  • The story seemed pretty straightforward, but Henrik Mouritsen threw a spanner in the works.
    Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 28 Aug. 2012
  • This stunt threw a spanner in the works for what had been the strongest couple in the villa thus far (Ella and fellow original islander Tyrique Hyde).
    Anusha Praturu, Vulture, 7 July 2023
  • Few affairs of the quantum world are simple, but the spanner in these quantum works is the fact that the Standard Model’s prediction itself is blurry.
    Rahul Rao, Popular Science, 17 Aug. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'spanner.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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