See throw a spanner in the works in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "throws a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
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]
},
{
"form": "throwing a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
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"present"
]
},
{
"form": "threw a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"past"
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},
{
"form": "thrown a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
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]
}
],
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},
"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": [
{
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"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
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{
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{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
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{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
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],
"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",
"word": "半路殺出個程咬金"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "bànlù shā chū ge Chéng Yǎojīn",
"word": "半路杀出个程咬金"
},
{
"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"
}
]
}
],
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"word": "throw a spanner in the works"
}
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "throws a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
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]
},
{
"form": "throwing a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
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},
{
"form": "threw a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "thrown a spanner in the works",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
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"1": "throw<,,threw,thrown> a spanner in the works"
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"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": [
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],
"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": [
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"English entries with incorrect language header",
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"English terms with usage examples",
"English verbs",
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"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with Hebrew translations",
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"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
"Terms with Vietnamese translations"
],
"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",
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"synonyms": [
{
"word": "throw a spanner into the works"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"word": "半路殺出個程咬金"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "bànlù shā chū ge Chéng Yǎojīn",
"word": "半路杀出个程咬金"
},
{
"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"
}
Download raw JSONL data for throw a spanner in the works meaning in English (3.5kB)
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"path": [
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"Template:trans-top-see",
"TEMPLATE_FN"
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"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 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). 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.