- Home
- Idioms
- clockwork
clockwork
be as regular as clockwork
To happen at predictable intervals. My daughter starts crying every night at bedtime—it's as regular as clockwork.
go like clockwork
Fig. to progress with regularity and dependability. The building project is progressing nicely. Everything is going like clockwork. The elaborate pageant was a great success. It went like clockwork from start to finish.
*regular as clockwork
Cliché very regular; completely predictable. (*Also: as ~.) George goes down to the bus stop at 7:45 every morning, as regular as clockwork. You can always depend on Nancy to complain about the office for fifteen minutes every afternoon, regular as clockwork.
run like clockwork
to run very well; to progress very well. I want this office to run like clockwork—with everything on time and everything done right. The plans for the party were made and we knew that we could depend on Alice to make sure that everything ran like clockwork.
like clockwork
1. at regular times I change my car's oil like clockwork every 3,000 miles.
2. without problems Most of the performance went like clockwork, but there were a few little things that weren't perfect.
go/run/work like clockwork
if an event or a system goes like clockwork, it happens exactly as it was planned, without any problems The whole ceremony went like clockwork. The Swiss railways run like clockwork.
like clockwork
if something happens like clockwork, it happens at regular times He arrived at 7 every evening, like clockwork.
be as regular as clockwork
if something is as regular as clockwork, it happens at exactly regular times Her letters arrived every week, regular as clockwork.
like clockwork
Also, regular as clockwork. With extreme regularity, as in Ruth arrives every Wednesday morning just like clockwork, or You can count on his schedule, which is regular as clockwork, or Their assembly line runs like clockwork. This idiom alludes to the mechanical and therefore very regular action of a clock. [Second half of 1600s]
like clockwork
With machinelike regularity and precision; perfectly: The project proceeded like clockwork.