MAINSPRING in a Sentence

Learn MAINSPRING from example sentences; some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

Example sentences for MAINSPRING, such as:

1. Everybody's mainspring is different.
2. HEEP, and only HEEP, is the mainspring of that machine.
3. The mainspring in a mechanical watch is the spring that stores energy of winding to operate the watch.

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 Meanings and Examples of MAINSPRING
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
mainspring
 n.  most important spring in a mechanical device; chief motivating force
Classic Sentence:
1  HEEP, and only HEEP, is the mainspring of that machine.
David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 52. I ASSIST AT AN EXPLOSION
2  Our difference of opinion amounts to this, that you make the mainspring self-interest, while I suppose that interest in the common weal is bound to exist in every man of a certain degree of advancement.
Anna Karenina 1 By Leo Tolstoy
Context  Highlight   In PART 3: Chapter 6
3  The mainspring of his existence was taken away when she died and with it had gone his bounding assurance, his impudence and his restless vitality.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXVI
4  Everybody's mainspring is different.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XL
5  "Who, I believe, is the mainspring of all this, I confess," said the cardinal.
The Three Musketeers By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In 16 IN WHICH M. SEGUIER, KEEPER OF THE SEALS, LOOKS MORE THAN ONCE FOR THE BELL
Example Sentence:
1  The mainspring in a mechanical watch is the spring that stores energy of winding to operate the watch.