See squeaky wheel in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "From the proverb \"the squeaky wheel gets the grease\"/oil.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "squeaky wheels",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "squeaky wheel (plural squeaky wheels)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "65 35",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "72 28",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "81 19",
"kind": "other",
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"parents": [],
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},
{
"_dis": "68 32",
"kind": "other",
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"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "70 30",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "72 28",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Polish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "98 2",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "People",
"orig": "en:People",
"parents": [
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1997, Lauch Faircloth, editor, Hud Rebuilding and Loan Guaranty Program:",
"text": "When I went to those who we needed to get the resources from, I got the title of being the squeaky wheel. Everyone is not going to be a squeaky wheel, but I believe that if we want something and are persistent enough, we will get it...",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A complainer; one who speaks out when there are problems (often pejorative)."
],
"id": "en-squeaky_wheel-en-noun-~5MtYfqz",
"links": [
[
"complainer",
"complainer"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "66 34",
"word": "spokesperson"
},
{
"_dis1": "66 34",
"word": "troublemaker"
},
{
"_dis1": "66 34",
"word": "whiner"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "86 14",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "one who complains",
"word": "marisija"
},
{
"_dis1": "86 14",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "one who complains",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "kwękacz"
},
{
"_dis1": "86 14",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "one who complains",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "kwękaczka"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1999, State of the Petroleum Industry; Hearing the Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, U.S. Senate:",
"text": "And it is pretty hard to get government, as you know, ahead of the curve. We always respond to the squeaky wheel when things get bad, but you know, clearly there is food for thought in the observation of where we are in our commodity industries.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Of several problems, the most apparent or the most urgent."
],
"id": "en-squeaky_wheel-en-noun-eMrngzqO",
"links": [
[
"urgent",
"urgent"
]
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "10 90",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "the most urgent problem",
"word": "päällimmäinen ongelma"
},
{
"_dis1": "10 90",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "the most urgent problem",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "największy problem"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-squeaky wheel.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-squeaky_wheel.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-squeaky_wheel.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-squeaky_wheel.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-squeaky_wheel.wav.ogg"
}
],
"word": "squeaky wheel"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"en:People"
],
"etymology_text": "From the proverb \"the squeaky wheel gets the grease\"/oil.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "squeaky wheels",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "squeaky wheel (plural squeaky wheels)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1997, Lauch Faircloth, editor, Hud Rebuilding and Loan Guaranty Program:",
"text": "When I went to those who we needed to get the resources from, I got the title of being the squeaky wheel. Everyone is not going to be a squeaky wheel, but I believe that if we want something and are persistent enough, we will get it...",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A complainer; one who speaks out when there are problems (often pejorative)."
],
"links": [
[
"complainer",
"complainer"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1999, State of the Petroleum Industry; Hearing the Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, U.S. Senate:",
"text": "And it is pretty hard to get government, as you know, ahead of the curve. We always respond to the squeaky wheel when things get bad, but you know, clearly there is food for thought in the observation of where we are in our commodity industries.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Of several problems, the most apparent or the most urgent."
],
"links": [
[
"urgent",
"urgent"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-squeaky wheel.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-squeaky_wheel.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-squeaky_wheel.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-squeaky_wheel.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-squeaky_wheel.wav.ogg"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "spokesperson"
},
{
"word": "troublemaker"
},
{
"word": "whiner"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "one who complains",
"word": "marisija"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "one who complains",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "kwękacz"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "one who complains",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "kwękaczka"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "the most urgent problem",
"word": "päällimmäinen ongelma"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "the most urgent problem",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "największy problem"
}
],
"word": "squeaky wheel"
}
Download raw JSONL data for squeaky wheel meaning in English (2.9kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-02 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (db8a5a5 and fb63907). 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.