See throw a spanner in the works in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for throw a spanner in the works meaning in English (3.3kB)
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "throws a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "throwing a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "threw a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "thrown a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "throw<,,threw,thrown> a spanner in the works"
},
"expansion": "throw a spanner in the works (third-person singular simple present throws a spanner in the works, present participle throwing a spanner in the works, simple past threw a spanner in the works, past participle thrown a spanner in the works)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Halfway through the production of Macbeth, the director found that the stage was smaller than he had expected. This really threw a spanner in the works.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To introduce a problem, dilemma or obstacle, something unexpected or troublesome."
],
"id": "en-throw_a_spanner_in_the_works-en-verb-XHJffLRm",
"links": [
[
"problem",
"problem"
],
[
"dilemma",
"dilemma"
],
[
"obstacle",
"obstacle"
],
[
"unexpected",
"unexpected"
],
[
"troublesome",
"troublesome"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, UK) To introduce a problem, dilemma or obstacle, something unexpected or troublesome."
],
"related": [
{
"tags": [
"US"
],
"word": "throw a wrench in the works"
},
{
"word": "put a spoke in someone's wheel"
},
{
"tags": [
"US"
],
"word": "monkey wrench"
},
{
"word": "spanner in the works"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"tags": [
"US"
],
"word": "throw a wrench in the works"
},
{
"word": "throw a wrench in the gears"
},
{
"word": "throw a monkey wrench in the works"
},
{
"word": "gum up the works"
},
{
"word": "throw a spanner into the works"
}
],
"tags": [
"UK",
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "yǐnqǐ yīgè yìxiǎngbùdào de zhàng'ài",
"word": "引起一个意想不到的障碍"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"word": "heittää kapuloita rattaisiin"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"word": "mettre des bâtons dans les roues"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"word": "לתקוע מקלות בגלגלים"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"word": "keresztülhúzza a számítását/számításait"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"word": "belerondít"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"word": "felborítja a tervet/terveit"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"word": "beleköp a levesbe"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"word": "stikke kjepper i hjulene"
},
{
"code": "vi",
"lang": "Vietnamese",
"word": "thọc gậy bánh xe"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-throw a spanner in the works.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/eb/En-au-throw_a_spanner_in_the_works.ogg/En-au-throw_a_spanner_in_the_works.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/En-au-throw_a_spanner_in_the_works.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "throw a spanner in the works"
}
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "throws a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "throwing a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "threw a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "thrown a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "throw<,,threw,thrown> a spanner in the works"
},
"expansion": "throw a spanner in the works (third-person singular simple present throws a spanner in the works, present participle throwing a spanner in the works, simple past threw a spanner in the works, past participle thrown a spanner in the works)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"tags": [
"US"
],
"word": "throw a wrench in the works"
},
{
"word": "put a spoke in someone's wheel"
},
{
"tags": [
"US"
],
"word": "monkey wrench"
},
{
"word": "spanner in the works"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"British English",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with usage examples",
"English verbs"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Halfway through the production of Macbeth, the director found that the stage was smaller than he had expected. This really threw a spanner in the works.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To introduce a problem, dilemma or obstacle, something unexpected or troublesome."
],
"links": [
[
"problem",
"problem"
],
[
"dilemma",
"dilemma"
],
[
"obstacle",
"obstacle"
],
[
"unexpected",
"unexpected"
],
[
"troublesome",
"troublesome"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, UK) To introduce a problem, dilemma or obstacle, something unexpected or troublesome."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"tags": [
"US"
],
"word": "throw a wrench in the works"
},
{
"word": "throw a wrench in the gears"
},
{
"word": "throw a monkey wrench in the works"
},
{
"word": "gum up the works"
}
],
"tags": [
"UK",
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-throw a spanner in the works.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/eb/En-au-throw_a_spanner_in_the_works.ogg/En-au-throw_a_spanner_in_the_works.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/En-au-throw_a_spanner_in_the_works.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "throw a spanner into the works"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "yǐnqǐ yīgè yìxiǎngbùdào de zhàng'ài",
"word": "引起一个意想不到的障碍"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"word": "heittää kapuloita rattaisiin"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"word": "mettre des bâtons dans les roues"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"word": "לתקוע מקלות בגלגלים"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"word": "keresztülhúzza a számítását/számításait"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"word": "belerondít"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"word": "felborítja a tervet/terveit"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"word": "beleköp a levesbe"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"word": "stikke kjepper i hjulene"
},
{
"code": "vi",
"lang": "Vietnamese",
"word": "thọc gậy bánh xe"
}
],
"word": "throw a spanner in the works"
}
{
"called_from": "page/2517",
"msg": "UNIMPLEMENTED parse_translation_template: trans-top-see {1: 'to introduce an obstacle or something unexpected', 2: \"put a spoke in someone's wheel\"}",
"path": [
"throw a spanner in the works",
"trans-top-see"
],
"section": "English",
"subsection": "verb",
"title": "throw a spanner in the works",
"trace": ""
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). 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.
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