Word.ws English Dictionary

put a spanner in the works

put a spanner in the works is the alternative form of throw a spanner in the works.

Meaning of throw a spanner in the works

Verb

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)

  1. (UK, idiomatic) To introduce a problem, dilemma or obstacle, something unexpected or troublesome.
    • 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.

Forms of put a spanner in the works

third-person singular presentputs a spanner in the works
present participleputting a spanner in the works
past participleput a spanner in the works
pastput a spanner in the works

Questions about put a spanner in the works

What is put a spanner in the works the alternative form of?
Put a spanner in the works is the alternative form of throw a spanner in the works.

Words near put a spanner in the works in the dictionary

  1. put a premium on
  2. put a shift in
  3. put a slight on
  4. put a slight upon
  5. put a sock in it
  6. put a spanner in the works
  7. put a spoke in someone's wheel
  8. put a stop to
  9. put a stopper to
  10. put about
  11. put across

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: put a spanner in the works (page history and authors); throw a spanner in the works (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.

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Cite this entry: “put a spanner in the works.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/put_a_spanner_in_the_works. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.