flywheel

American  

[flahy-hweel, -weel] / ˈflaɪˌʰwil, -ˌwil /

noun

Machinery.

1. a heavy disk or wheel rotating on a shaft so that its momentum gives almost uniform rotational speed to the shaft and to all connected machinery.

---

flywheel British  

/ ˈflaɪˌwiːl /

noun

1. a heavy wheel that stores kinetic energy and smooths the operation of a reciprocating engine by maintaining a constant speed of rotation over the whole cycle

---

Etymology

Origin of flywheel

First recorded in 1775–85; fly ² + wheel

Example Sentences

“Together, consumer adoption, enterprise deployment, developer usage and compute form a reinforcing flywheel that is translating capability into economic impact.”

From MarketWatch

"The more capital we can free up within the organisation to invest, the better we can turn this flywheel of making investments to drive future growth," chief financial officer Anat Ashkenazi said.

From BBC

“Alphabet’s AI‑native ads flywheel in Search and YouTube, along with Gemini‑driven improvements in intent understanding, formats, and monetization, are sustaining double‑digit revenue growth and raising ad yields,” he said.

From Barron's

D’Amaro, who officially succeeded Bob Iger at the company’s annual shareholders meeting Wednesday, wants to accelerate Disney’s flywheel—the process by which franchises move between film, television, digital, consumer products and real-world experiences.

From The Wall Street Journal

“If key departures slow iteration, cause quality regressions, or reduce community trust, the open-source flywheel weakens.”

From Barron's