Word.ws English Dictionary

threw a wrench in the gears

threw a wrench in the gears is the simple past of throw a wrench in the gears.

Meaning of throw a wrench in the gears

Verb

throw a wrench in the gears (third-person singular simple present throws a wrench in the gears, present participle throwing a wrench in the gears, simple past threw a wrench in the gears, past participle thrown a wrench in the gears)

  1. (US, idiomatic) Synonym of throw a spanner in the works.

Questions about threw a wrench in the gears

What is threw a wrench in the gears the simple past of?
Threw a wrench in the gears is the simple past of throw a wrench in the gears.

Words near threw a wrench in the gears in the dictionary

  1. threw a sprat to catch a mackerel
  2. threw a tantrum
  3. threw a wet blanket on
  4. threw a wobbly
  5. threw a wrench in
  6. threw a wrench in the gears
  7. threw a wrench in the works
  8. threw a wrench into the works
  9. threw about
  10. threw an ant into a sty
  11. threw an eye

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: threw a wrench in the gears (page history and authors); throw a wrench in the gears (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: “threw a wrench in the gears.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/threw_a_wrench_in_the_gears. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.