mainspring.
The principal spring of a clockwork mechanism, which drives it by uncoiling.
Meaning & usage
The principal spring of a clockwork mechanism, which drives it by uncoiling.
The most important reason for, or element of, something.
My daughter is the mainspring of my life.
Where this word comes from
From main + spring. For figurative sense, compare spring (“source, origin”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.