linchpin
noun
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In his 1857 novel, Tom Brown's School Days, Thomas Hughes describes the "cowardly blackguard custom" of "taking the linch-pins out of the farmers' and bagmens' gigs at the fairs." The linchpin in question held the wheel on the gig and removing it made it likely that the wheel would come off as the vehicle moved. Such a pin was called a lynis in Old English; Middle English speakers added pin to form lynspin. By the early 20th century, English speakers were using linchpin for anything as critical to a complex situation as a linchpin is to a wagon, as when Winston Churchill, in 1930, wrote of Canada and the role it played in the relationship between Great Britain and the United States, that "no state, no country, no band of men can more truly be described as the linchpin of peace and world progress."
Examples of linchpin in a Sentence
Laura Bradley, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2024
In this new reality, the most successful CMOs will be those who recognize and empower their insights teams as the linchpin of their strategic initiatives, turning data into a powerful force that underpins every decision.
—Nataly Kelly, Forbes, 15 Oct. 2024
Sequels and reboots and rereleases may be the linchpins of Hollywood’s nostalgia-industrial complex, but goth’s comeback goes beyond the reanimation of dormant titles.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 10 Oct. 2024
It’s taken decades of painstaking effort to rebuild America’s profitable steel industry, beat back unfair trade practices by countries like China and Japan, and position domestic steelmaking as a linchpin of U.S. national security.
—David McCall, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near linchpin
Cite this Entry
“Linchpin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/linchpin. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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linchpin
noun
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