"throw a monkey wrench into the works" meaning in All languages combined

See throw a monkey wrench into the works on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Forms: throws a monkey wrench into the works [present, singular, third-person], throwing a monkey wrench into the works [participle, present], threw a monkey wrench into the works [past], thrown a monkey wrench into the works [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|<,,threw,thrown>|head=~monkey wrench:~}} throw a monkey wrench into the works (third-person singular simple present throws a monkey wrench into the works, present participle throwing a monkey wrench into the works, simple past threw a monkey wrench into the works, past participle thrown a monkey wrench into the works)
  1. (idiomatic) Synonym of throw a spanner into the works. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: throw a spanner into the works [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-throw_a_monkey_wrench_into_the_works-en-verb-Y4k-kSEZ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "throws a monkey wrench into the works",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "throwing a monkey wrench into the works",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "threw a monkey wrench into the works",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thrown a monkey wrench into the works",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "<,,threw,thrown>",
        "head": "~monkey wrench:~"
      },
      "expansion": "throw a monkey wrench into the works (third-person singular simple present throws a monkey wrench into the works, present participle throwing a monkey wrench into the works, simple past threw a monkey wrench into the works, past participle thrown a monkey wrench into the works)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of throw a spanner into the works."
      ],
      "id": "en-throw_a_monkey_wrench_into_the_works-en-verb-Y4k-kSEZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "throw a spanner into the works",
          "throw a spanner into the works#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Synonym of throw a spanner into the works."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "throw a spanner into the works"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "throw a monkey wrench into the works"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "throws a monkey wrench into the works",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "throwing a monkey wrench into the works",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "threw a monkey wrench into the works",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thrown a monkey wrench into the works",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "<,,threw,thrown>",
        "head": "~monkey wrench:~"
      },
      "expansion": "throw a monkey wrench into the works (third-person singular simple present throws a monkey wrench into the works, present participle throwing a monkey wrench into the works, simple past threw a monkey wrench into the works, past participle thrown a monkey wrench into the works)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of throw a spanner into the works."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "throw a spanner into the works",
          "throw a spanner into the works#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Synonym of throw a spanner into the works."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "throw a spanner into the works"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "throw a monkey wrench into the works"
}

Download raw JSONL data for throw a monkey wrench into the works meaning in All languages combined (1.4kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.