Word.ws English Dictionary

monkey wrench

monkey wrench noun: a wrench (spanner) with an adjustable jaw.

monkey wrench: a wrench (spanner) with an adjustable jaw
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

monkey wrench (plural monkey wrenches)

  1. A wrench (spanner) with an adjustable jaw.
    • Did you ever stop to think whether or not you knew how a monkey wrench should be used?1903, Shop Talk, volumes 1-3, page 21
    • With a monkey wrench on the hexagonal part of the stuffing box unscrew the stuffing box from the body of the faucet.1948, George M. Warren, Simple Plumbing Repairs in the Home: Farmers' Bulletin, number 1460, page 2
  2. (figuratively) An unexpected or troublesome problem, obstacle or dilemma.
    • Professor Miller's careful research has thrown a monkey-wrench into the Einstein wheel, although it has far from discouraged the enthusiastic exponents of Einsteinism.1926, New Outlook, volume 142, page 58
    • Meanwhile the killer, either knowing for sure or by instinct that the police have incorrectly profiled him, throws monkey wrenches into the task force investigation by changing his modus operandi (MO) for no other reason than to trick the police.2003, Robert D. Keppel, William J. Birnes, The Psychology of Serial Killer Investigations: The Grisly Business Unit, page 130

Verb

monkey wrench (third-person singular simple present monkey wrenches, present participle monkey wrenching, simple past and past participle monkey wrenched)

  1. To apply a monkey wrench, e.g. to tighten or loosen nuts.
  2. (idiomatic) To introduce problems, to create unexpected trouble, to sabotage.
    • I think it’s possible that [US Vice President J.D.] Vance didn’t intend to monkey wrench [the meeting with US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky].2025 February 28, Jonah Goldberg, “Dishonor and Incompetence in the Oval Office”, in The Dispatch

monkey wrench meaning in Tamil, Kannada, Tagalog and Arabic

monkey wrench in Tamil

குரங்கு முறுக்கலி, குரங்குத்திருகாணிச்சாவி

monkey wrench in Kannada

ಕಪಿರೆಂಚು, ತಿರುಚುಳಿ, ಚಿಲ್ಮುಡಿಕೆ, ಒಂದು ಬಗೆಯ ತಿರುಪು ಸಾಧನ

monkey wrench in Tagalog

adjustable wrench
liyabe-ingglesa, liyabe-inglesa

monkey wrench in Arabic

adjustable wrench
مِفْتَاح إِنْجْلِيزِيّ miftāḥ ʔinglīziyy
More languagesFewer languages
monkey wrench in Vietnamese
mỏ lết

Examples of monkey wrench in a sentence

  • There were two monkey wrenches for that, sitting in a bucket.2010, A. M. Murray, The Secret of the Serpent Mound, unnumbered page:
  • Girard had programmed some electronic "monkey wrenches" into the control panel that with the stroke of a key, would render the device inoperable.2009, Ken Reamy, The Balaam Surrogate, page 210:

Synonyms of monkey wrench

Forms of monkey wrench

Noun
pluralmonkey wrenches
alternative formmonkeywrench
alternative formmonkey-wrench
Verb
third-person singular presentmonkey wrenches
present participlemonkey wrenching
past participlemonkey wrenched
pastmonkey wrenched

Origin of monkey wrench

Already in use, and not unfamiliar among mechanics, by 1832; see discussion and references at Monkey wrench § Etymology and history.

Words formed from monkey wrench

Questions about monkey wrench

What does monkey wrench mean?
Monkey wrench means a wrench (spanner) with an adjustable jaw.
What is monkey wrench in Tamil?
Monkey wrench in Tamil is குரங்கு முறுக்கலி, குரங்குத்திருகாணிச்சாவி. See Monkey wrench meaning in Tamil.
How do you use monkey wrench in a sentence?
There were two monkey wrenches for that, sitting in a bucket.
What part of speech is monkey wrench?
Monkey wrench can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of monkey wrench?
The plural of monkey wrench is monkey wrenches.

Words near monkey wrench in the dictionary

  1. monkey walk
  2. monkey walks
  3. Monkey Ward's
  4. monkey wheel
  5. monkey wheels
  6. monkey wrench
  7. monkey wrench in the works
  8. monkey wrencher
  9. monkey wrenchers
  10. monkey wrenches
  11. monkey wrenches in the works

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: monkey wrench (page history and authors); monkey wrench (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); monkey wrench (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-monkey wrench.ogg.

Cite this entry: “monkey wrench.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/monkey_wrench. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.