What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Gear vs Sprocket - What's the difference?

gear | sprocket |

As nouns the difference between gear and sprocket

is that gear is equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor while sprocket is a toothed wheel that enmeshes with a chain or other perforated band.

As a verb gear

is to provide with gearing; to fit with gears in order to achieve a desired gear ratio.

As an adjective gear

is (mostly British (Scouse)) great or fantastic.

gear

English

Noun

(wikipedia gear)
  • (uncountable) equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
  • Clothing; garments.
  • * Spenser
    • Array thyself in thy most gorgeous gear .
  • (obsolete) Goods; property; household items.
    • (Chaucer)
  • * Robynson (More's Utopia)
    • Homely gear and common ware.
  • (countable) a wheel with grooves (teeth) engraved on the outer circumference, such that two such devices can interlock and convey motion from one to the other.
  • (countable) a particular combination or choice of interlocking gears, such that a particular gear ratio is achieved.
  • (countable) A configuration of the transmission of a motor car so as to achieve a particular ratio of engine to axle torque
  • (slang) recreational drugs
  • * 2003 , Marianne Hancock, Looking for Oliver (page 90)
    • Have you got any gear ? Dominic, have you got any acid?
  • (uncountable, archaic) stuff.
  • * 1662 , , Book III, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 113:
    • "When he was digged up, which was in the presence of the Magistracy of the Town, his body was found entire, not at all putrid, no ill smell about him, saving the mustiness of the grave-Clothes, his joynts limber and flexible, as in those that are alive, his skin only flaccid, but a more fresh grown in the room of it, the wound of his throat gaping, but no gear nor corruption in it; there was also observed a Magical mark in the great toe of his right foot, viz. an Excrescency in the form of a Rose."
  • (obsolete) Business matters; affairs; concern.
  • * Spenser
    • Thus go they both together to their gear .
  • (obsolete, UK, dialect) Anything worthless; nonsense; rubbish.
    • (Wright)
  • * Latimer
    • That servant of his that confessed and uttered this gear was an honest man.

    Synonyms

    * cog, cogwheel, gearwheel

    Derived terms

    * change gear * change gears * high gear * gear lever * gear shift * gear up * shift gear * shift gears * up a gear

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (engineering) To provide with gearing; to fit with gears in order to achieve a desired gear ratio.
  • (engineering) To be in, or come into, gear.
  • to dress; to put gear on; to harness.

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (mostly British (Scouse) ) great or fantastic

    • Anagrams

    * * * * ----

    sprocket

    English

    (wikipedia sprocket)

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A toothed wheel that enmeshes with a chain or other perforated band.
  • (usually, in the plural) The tooth of such a wheel.
  • (architecture) A flared extension at the base of a sloped roof.
  • A (placeholder name) for an unnamed, unspecified, or hypothetical manufactured good or product.
    • Suppose we have a widget factory that produces 100 widgets per year, and a sprocket factory that produces 200 sprockets per year.

    Usage notes

    Although sprockets are sometimes referred to as gears , there is a technical distinction between the two: sprockets interact with chains, whereas gears interact with other gears.

    Synonyms

    * (placeholder name) widget

    Derived terms

    * sprocket wheel

    See also

    * (wikipedia "sprocket")