Word.ws English Dictionary

well-oiled machine

well-oiled machine noun: something that operates capably through the effective coordination of many parts.

Noun

well-oiled machine (plural well-oiled machines)

  1. (figuratively, idiomatic) Something that operates capably through the effective coordination of many parts.
    • run like a well-oiled machine
    • Our office runs like a well-oiled machine.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see well-oiled, machine.

Examples of well-oiled machine in a sentence

  • Our office is a well-oiled machine.
  • Trevor was the firm's facilities manager and it was his job to make sure that their office ran like a well-oiled machine and that the partners, attorneys, and staff were comfortable.2008, Zane, Succulent: Chocolate Flava II, page 2:
  • A movie studio in the so-called golden era was a well-oiled machine with everything needed to make movies right in place on the studio lot.2007, Jeanine Basinger, The Star Machine, page 13:
  • Contrary to this dismal picture is the popular concept of the classroom that runs like a well-oiled machine, smoothly, flawlessly, functioning at full capacity, producing maximum output.2004, Carolyn Orange, 44 Smart Strategies for Avoiding Classroom Mistakes, page 16:
  • His lines flow with the smoothness of a well-oiled machine.1850, The Knickerbocker; or, New-York monthly magazine, "Editor's Table", p. 573

Forms of well-oiled machine

pluralwell-oiled machines

Origin of well-oiled machine

The figurative sense is an extension from the literal sense.

Questions about well-oiled machine

What does well-oiled machine mean?
Well-oiled machine means something that operates capably through the effective coordination of many parts.
How do you use well-oiled machine in a sentence?
Our office is a well-oiled machine.
What part of speech is well-oiled machine?
Well-oiled machine is a noun.
What is the plural of well-oiled machine?
The plural of well-oiled machine is well-oiled machines.

Words near well-oiled machine in the dictionary

  1. well-nigh
  2. well-nourished
  3. well-off
  4. well-offness
  5. well-oiled
  6. well-oiled machine
  7. well-oiled machines
  8. well-order
  9. well-orderable
  10. well-ordered
  11. well-ordering

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: well-oiled machine (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: “well-oiled machine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/well-oiled_machine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.