Phrase guide

training wheels

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈtɹeɪnɪŋ wiːlz/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈtreɪnɪŋ ˌ(h)wilz/

1

noun

Meaning 1

Anything designed to make something easier for a novice.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively, plural, plural-only

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

plural of training wheel

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, plural

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From training wheel + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum and regular plurals of nouns).

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: apuvälineet — anything designed to make something easier for a novice
  • Finnish: apupyörät — anything designed to make something easier for a novice
  • Polish: pomoc — anything designed to make something easier for a novice