🗓️ Idiom: Just a Cog in the Machine (noun)
💬 Meaning
- Feeling like an unimportant part of a large company or system.
- Having little control or influence over your work or decisions.
🧠 Example Sentences
- After years in the company, he started to feel like just a cog in the machine.
- Many office workers say they feel like cogs in the machine, doing the same tasks every day.
- She left her corporate job because she did not want to feel like just a cog in the machine anymore.
🏛️ Origin
This idiom comes from the image of a mechanical machine made up of many small cogs or gears. Each cog turns but cannot work alone. The phrase began to describe how workers in big organisations sometimes feel; small, replaceable, and without real independence.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
After years in a huge company, he began to feel like __________.
Answer
just a cog in the machine
2. Choose the correct option:
What does “just a cog in the machine” mean?
a) A worker who manages others
b) A small but unimportant part of a big system
c) A person who repairs machines
Answer
b) A small but unimportant part of a big system
3. Change the sentence using “just a cog in the machine”:
“He feels like his work does not make a difference in the company.”
Answer
He feels like just a cog in the machine at his company.
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