"like clockwork" meaning in English

See like clockwork in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Audio: En-au-like clockwork.ogg
Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} like clockwork, {{en-PP}} like clockwork
  1. (simile) With perfect regularity and precision; faultless. Categories (topical): Time Synonyms: swimmingly, smoothly, without a hitch Related terms: like atomic clockwork, run like a top, set one's watch by someone Translations (with perfect regularity and precision): kellontarkasti (Finnish), täsmälleen (Finnish), wie am Schnürchen (German), wie geschmiert (German), wie geölt (German), כמו שעון (Hebrew), óraműpontossággal (english: precisely at the expected time) (Hungarian), mint a karikacsapás (english: like a breeze) (Hungarian), eins og í sögu (Icelandic), snurðulaust (Icelandic), jak szwajcarski zegarek (Polish), ca pe roate (Romanian), как часы́ (kak časý) (Russian), как по часам (kak po časam) (Russian), спо́ри́ться (spórítʹsja) [imperfective] (Russian), como la seda (Spanish), som ett urverk (Swedish), saat gibi (Turkish)
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          "name": "Time",
          "orig": "en:Time",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "run like clockwork",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "You will find him there waiting for the bus every day at 4:14 pm, like clockwork.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "With perfect regularity and precision; faultless."
      ],
      "id": "en-like_clockwork-en-prep_phrase-aI2VcpjA",
      "links": [
        [
          "perfect",
          "perfect"
        ],
        [
          "regularity",
          "regularity"
        ],
        [
          "precision",
          "precision"
        ],
        [
          "faultless",
          "faultless"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile) With perfect regularity and precision; faultless."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "like atomic clockwork"
        },
        {
          "word": "run like a top"
        },
        {
          "word": "set one's watch by someone"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "swimmingly"
        },
        {
          "word": "smoothly"
        },
        {
          "word": "without a hitch"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "kellontarkasti"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "täsmälleen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "wie am Schnürchen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "wie geschmiert"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "wie geölt"
        },
        {
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "כמו שעון"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "english": "precisely at the expected time",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "óraműpontossággal"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "english": "like a breeze",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "mint a karikacsapás"
        },
        {
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "eins og í sögu"
        },
        {
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "snurðulaust"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "jak szwajcarski zegarek"
        },
        {
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "ca pe roate"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "kak časý",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "как часы́"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "kak po časam",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "как по часам"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "spórítʹsja",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "спо́ри́ться"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "como la seda"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "som ett urverk"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
          "word": "saat gibi"
        }
      ]
    }
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  "word": "like clockwork"
}
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      "word": "like atomic clockwork"
    },
    {
      "word": "run like a top"
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      "word": "set one's watch by someone"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "run like clockwork",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "You will find him there waiting for the bus every day at 4:14 pm, like clockwork.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "With perfect regularity and precision; faultless."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "perfect"
        ],
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          "regularity",
          "regularity"
        ],
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          "precision",
          "precision"
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          "faultless",
          "faultless"
        ]
      ],
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        "(simile) With perfect regularity and precision; faultless."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "swimmingly"
        },
        {
          "word": "smoothly"
        },
        {
          "word": "without a hitch"
        }
      ]
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "kellontarkasti"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "täsmälleen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "wie am Schnürchen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "wie geschmiert"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "wie geölt"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "כמו שעון"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "english": "precisely at the expected time",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "óraműpontossággal"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "english": "like a breeze",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "mint a karikacsapás"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "eins og í sögu"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "snurðulaust"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "jak szwajcarski zegarek"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "ca pe roate"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "kak časý",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "как часы́"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "kak po časam",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "как по часам"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "spórítʹsja",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "спо́ри́ться"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "como la seda"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "som ett urverk"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "with perfect regularity and precision",
      "word": "saat gibi"
    }
  ],
  "word": "like clockwork"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). 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.