well-oiled machine
Something that operates capably through the effective coordination of many parts.
run like a well-oiled machine
well-oiled
adj 3
Collocations
2VERB + WELL-OILED
building, like, pair, ran
WELL-OILED + NOUN
machine, media, strangers
Definitions
adj
1
Well-run; smoothrunning; efficiently run.
Pro-Trump political influencers have spent years building a well-oiled media machine that swarms around every major news story, creating a torrent of viral commentary that reliably drowns out both the mainstream media and the liberal opposition.
2
Drunk.
Well, in 2000, a pair of well-oiled strangers hit the news and were arrested – after groping each other and undressing on a transatlantic flight – but it’s usually less extreme, as with the couple who were intensely snogging in 2020.
Swinging onto the Treherbert branch under the new OLE, the train's onboard Passenger Information Screens announce we have entered a 'no alcohol' zone. That doesn't seem to help, as some of the passengers who joined us earlier seem 'well oiled' already.
3
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see well, oiled.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
401
Pro-Trump political influencers have spent years building a well-oiled media machine that swarms around every major news story, creating a torrent of viral commentary that reliably drowns out both the
Wiktionary02
Well, in 2000, a pair of well-oiled strangers hit the news and were arrested – after groping each other and undressing on a transatlantic flight – but it’s usually less extreme, as with the couple who
Wiktionary03
Swinging onto the Treherbert branch under the new OLE, the train's onboard Passenger Information Screens announce we have entered a 'no alcohol' zone. That doesn't seem to help, as some of the passeng
Wiktionary04
Fadil's prostitution house ran like a well-oiled machine.
Tatoeba · #5877782Usage Notes
i Register
In some senses, well-oiled is marked as idiomatic. Watch for register when choosing this word.
Your note
not saved0 chars