flywheel
noun
Did you know?
A heavy wheel attached to a rotating shaft, a flywheel smooths out delivery of power from a motor to a machine. The inertia of the flywheel moderates fluctuations in the speed of the engine and stores the excess energy for intermittent use. In automobile engines, the flywheel smooths out the pulses of energy provided by combustion in the cylinders, and provides energy for the compression stroke of the pistons. In power presses, the punching, shearing, and forming are done in a fraction of the operating cycle. During the rest of the cycle, the speed of the flywheel is built up by a comparatively low-powered motor, and most of the required energy for the cycle is provided by the flywheel.
Examples of flywheel in a Sentence
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2024
Demographics is the spark finally kicking this flywheel into high gear.
—Kevin O'Marah, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024
When needed, the motors could draw power from the flywheel, deploying it in short bursts of up to 8 seconds.
—Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 16 Oct. 2023
There was no SoulCycle, there was no orange theory, there was no flywheel, there was no Barre, there was nothing.
—Jane Thier, Fortune, 28 Mar. 2024
Different components of the flywheel play different roles for us.
—Nick Statt, The Verge, 26 Feb. 2024
The compounding expertise of millions more experienced builders creates ever-faster feedback loops, kickstarts a talent and business flywheel effect, and leads to more inclusive and inventive startup ecosystems.
—Martin Mignot, Fortune, 18 Mar. 2024
That combined with opening its first store in hometown Encinitas, CA got the brand’s flywheel humming.
—Pamela N. Danziger, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024
There are at least three reasons why U.S. resilience is more like a flywheel than a finite, depletable resource.
—Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, Fortune, 12 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flywheel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near flywheel
Cite this Entry
“Flywheel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flywheel. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share