VOCABULARY - IDIOMS

Cog in the machine

Meaning:

said about one part of a large system or organization

Examples:

  • Only a cog in the machine, and it broke.
  • In theory, the most important cog in the machine is the councillor.
  • Parliament is once again acting as a cog in the machine of urgent demands from the college in Brussels.
  • On the other hand, increasing globalization and impersonalization of daily life is strongly at work in their lives. How to contribute to the whole without becoming a cog in the machine is their quest.