mainspring
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Fountain’s tradition of extending a wide communal embrace, welcoming underrepresented voices and addressing urgent social concerns, is clearly going to be a mainspring of Caldwell’s leadership.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 24, 2025
The mainspring of this imagined future clash is not race and slavery, but science and the environment.
From Washington Post • Apr. 3, 2017
That offensive prank is the mainspring of the movie.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 21, 2014
If true, Bicep’s detection of gravitational waves would confirm a theory that the universe began with a violent outward antigravitational swoosh known as inflation, the mainspring of Big Bang theorizing for the last three decades.
From New York Times • Sep. 22, 2014
“It’s how my father taught me. If I don’t wind it consistently, it won’t keep time as well. And if I overwind it, the mainspring might break.”
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
