the clock
noun
1
: a clock that is used in sports and that shows how much time remains for a particular part of a game
They were winning by 2 points with 10 seconds (left) on the clock.
They stopped the (game) clock with eight seconds remaining.
2
: a special clock that is used to record the times when an employee starts and stops working : time clock
I punched the clock at 8:45 and started working right away.
3
chiefly British
: a device that shows how far a vehicle has traveled
a car with 100,000 miles on the clock
Examples of the clock in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Surprisingly, Koné put up the kind of performance that turned back the clock.
—
Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 22 June 2025
With one month to go until the Lido lineup is unveiled, Venice’s artistic director Alberto Barbera is racing against the clock to assemble the festival’s 82nd edition, slots for which are still in flux.
—Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 20 June 2025
Now Trump has four weeks left to score those deals, set the clock forward again or announce higher tariff rates – all while he’s increasingly occupied with a military conflict in the Middle East that could quickly become a wider war with direct US involvement.
—David Goldman, CNN Money, 19 June 2025
Cunningham came to the defense of her teammate Clark, retaliating with less than a minute left on the clock after, earlier in the game, the Fever's superstar player was poked in the eye and then knocked to the ground by two separate Sun players.
—Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for the clock
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 22 June 2025
With one month to go until the Lido lineup is unveiled, Venice’s artistic director Alberto Barbera is racing against the clock to assemble the festival’s 82nd edition, slots for which are still in flux.
—Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 20 June 2025
Now Trump has four weeks left to score those deals, set the clock forward again or announce higher tariff rates – all while he’s increasingly occupied with a military conflict in the Middle East that could quickly become a wider war with direct US involvement.
—David Goldman, CNN Money, 19 June 2025
Cunningham came to the defense of her teammate Clark, retaliating with less than a minute left on the clock after, earlier in the game, the Fever's superstar player was poked in the eye and then knocked to the ground by two separate Sun players.
—Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for the clock
Cite this Entry
“The clock.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20clock. Accessed 6 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share