noun
linchpin
LIHNCH-pihn
noun
1
A pin pushed through the end of an axle to keep a wheel from sliding off.
"The cart wheel came loose after the linchpin snapped."
2
The person or thing that holds a system, plan, or organization together and is essential to its success.
"She was the linchpin of the whole marketing team."
"Reliable funding is the linchpin of the entire project."
How to Use Linchpin
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe key person or element that everything else depends on to stay together.
Common pairings
the linchpin of
a crucial linchpin
remove the linchpin
Word Forms
linchpinned past tense, linchpins plural, linchpins singular
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The cart wheel came loose after the _____ snapped.
Etymology
From Old English lynis ("axle pin") combined with pin; the figurative sense of "essential connecting piece" developed in the 20th century.