put/throw a spanner in the works

phrase

informal

: to cause something to not go as planned

We were ready to start the project when the bank threw a spanner in the works by denying the loan.

Examples of put/throw a spanner in the works in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Rowan Atkinson plays a Ninth Doctor ready to hang up his TARDIS keys and marry his companion (Julia Sawalha), when the Master (a scenery-chewing Jonathan Pryce) and the Daleks throw a spanner in the works. — Richard Edwards, Space.com, 13 Dec. 2025

Then episode seven does kind of throw a spanner in the works because finally you are introduced to what Mark had on the outside world, which feels meaningful too. — Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 21 Mar. 2025

Join 11 others in the comments View Comments But Thursday’s scathing commentary from a newspaper closely aligned with the ruling Communist Party could throw a spanner in the works. — Juliana Liu, CNN, 14 Mar. 2025

Yet present-day consumer usage appears set to throw a spanner in the works. — IEEE Spectrum, 9 Feb. 2025

But the injuries to Giorgio Scalvini and Gianluca Scamacca, and a stand-off between the club and Teun Koopmeiners, who wants to force a move to Juventus, throw a spanner in the works. — James Horncastle, The Athletic, 14 Aug. 2024

McCarthy, for instance, largely used his perch to put a spanner in the works of the legislative process while pushing the ridiculous investigations favored by right-wing media and the party’s most radical members. — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 24 Oct. 2023

There is a strong suspicion that nicotine can throw a spanner in the works throughout this time — a particular concern given the growing popularity of vaping among young people. — Anthony King, Scientific American, 13 June 2023