Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

grease the wheels

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.61 in modern English

Syllables: grease the wheels
IPA

25

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

1

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To create conditions likely to produce or hasten favorable future developments.

Example Sentences

"Once a way of greasing the wheels of a gruesome bureaucracy, bribery has now become part of the cost of doing business."
"[T]he banks will feel more comfortable about lending to each other, which is something we desperately need to help grease the wheels of the economy."
"Worker mobility, which greases the wheels of hiring, dropped off sharply last year."
"People will be more inclined to pay sooner if they can pay less – even a small discount might be enough to speed up the process and help grease the wheels."

Etymology

By a metaphor in which facilitating human socioeconomic interaction, or any other process or system, is portrayed as lubricating machinery; in this regard, compare also lubrication payment and social lubricant.

Inflected Forms

greases the wheels (present, singular) greasing the wheels (participle, present) greased the wheels (participle, past) greased the wheels (past)

Synonyms

pave the way set the stage

Questions

What does grease the wheels mean?: To create conditions likely to produce or hasten favorable future developments.
Where does grease the wheels come from?: By a metaphor in which facilitating human socioeconomic interaction, or any other process or system, is portrayed as lubricating machinery; in this regard, compare also lubrication payment and social lubricant.

How to pronounce grease the wheels

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