He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away.
Source: wiktionary
Mainspring
Synonyms for "mainspring" (45 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (9)
Noun(3 words)
driving forcedriving motiveenergy storage spring
Strong matches (14)
fontfountfountainfountainheadgoalgroundguiding lightguiding starheadspringheadstreamheadwateridealinspiration
Noun(1 words)
Related words (22)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
5 entriesMore specific
6 entriesCollocations
6 entriescoiled mainspringflat mainspringmainspring barrelspiral mainspringunwound mainspringwatch mainspring
Inflections
1 entriesSample sentences
3 total sentences available.
My daughter is the mainspring of my life.
Source: wiktionary
But in the England of Shakespeare’s history plays, the mainspring of the system has broken down.
Source: wiktionary