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
Dan Walters, Mercury News, 21 Feb. 2026
Trump has used tariffs as a linchpin of his trade and economic agenda, including as leverage to negotiate deals with top economies.
—Jason Ma, Fortune, 20 Feb. 2026
The readymade garments industry is the linchpin of Bangladesh’s export economy and accounts for 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
—Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 9 Feb. 2026
From that humble beginning, the Spurs have grown into one of the world’s top pro sports franchises, a winner of five NBA titles that has visions of adding more crowns with Frenchman Victor Wembanyama as its linchpin.
—Tom Orsborn, San Antonio Express-News, 7 Feb. 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 23 Feb. 2026.
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linchpin
noun
