linchpin
noun
Did you know?
In his 1857 novel, Tom Brown’s School Days, Thomas Hughes describes the “cowardly” 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 carriage, 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
Jack Hamilton, The Atlantic, 28 Apr. 2026
Oil revenue is the linchpin of Russia’s economy, allowing Putin to pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation for everyday people and avoiding a currency collapse.
—Karel Janicek, Chicago Tribune, 24 Apr. 2026
Batteries are a linchpin for unlocking solar and wind energy’s full potential by soaking up excess green energy and then discharging it when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining.
—Mark Chediak, Fortune, 24 Apr. 2026
Oil revenue is the linchpin of Russia’s economy, allowing Putin to pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation for everyday people and avoiding a currency collapse.
—Lorne Cook, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for linchpin
Cite this Entry
“Linchpin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/linchpin. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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linchpin
noun
