Meaning of Mainspring | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The principal spring of a clockwork mechanism, which drives it by uncoiling.
2. The most important reason for, or element of, something.
   figuratively

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

“My daughter is the mainspring of my life.”

“But in the England of Shakespeare’s history plays, the mainspring of the system has broken down.”

CEFR level