Meanings
present singular third person puts a spoke in someone's wheel · participle present putting a spoke in someone's wheel · alternative obsolete have a spoke in someone's cart
- To thwart or obstruct someone in the execution of some design.
1 more example
The original branch was 5¾ miles long, from Llantrisant to Cowbridge only, but in 1889, the T.V.R. [Taff Vale Railway] obtained powers […] to continue the line for 6½ miles south to the coast at Aberthaw, ostensibly for the purpose of serving the important limestone works there, but one suspects other motives, including an understandable desire on the part of the T.V.R. to put a spoke in the wheel of the oncoming Barry Railway !
1951 December, T. B. Sands, “Some Railway Byways in the Vale of Glamorgan”, in Railway Magazine, page 838Synonyms: fix someone's flint, settle someone's hash
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo thwart or obstruct someone in the execution of some design.
Translations
Czech házet klacky pod nohy
- házet klacky pod nohyto thwart a design
Danish sætte en kæp i hjulet
- sætte en kæp i hjuletto thwart a design
Dutch stokken in de wielen steken
- stokken in de wielen stekento thwart a design
German einen Strich durch die Rechnung machen
- einen Strich durch die Rechnung machento thwart a design
Polish krzyżować szyki, pokrzyżować szyki
- krzyżować szykito thwart a design
- pokrzyżować szykito thwart a design
Russian вставлять палки в колёса
- вставлять палки в колёса (vstavljatʹ palki v koljósa)to thwart a design
Vietnamese thọc gậy bánh xe
- thọc gậy bánh xeto thwart a design
Welsh torri ar chwarae rhywun
- torri ar chwarae rhywunto thwart a design
Cite this entry
put a spoke in someone's wheel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20a%20spoke%20in%20someone's%20wheel
“put a spoke in someone's wheel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20a%20spoke%20in%20someone's%20wheel. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “put a spoke in someone's wheel,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/put%20a%20spoke%20in%20someone's%20wheel.
Source: put a spoke in someone's wheel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.