# wheel within a wheel

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/wheel-within-a-wheel
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A complication of circumstances, motives, etc.

## Examples

- This situation is a wheel within a wheel.
- You will find a wheel within a wheel in this office drama.
- Every new layer of the investigation reveals a wheel within a wheel.
- The legal case became a wheel within a wheel, involving hidden motives and secret agreements between the companies.
- The family business was a wheel within a wheel, where every small decision was actually influenced by a secret agreement made thirty years ago.
- I thought the project failed because of the budget, but there was a wheel within a wheel involving the manager's personal plans.
- The charity scandal turned out to be a wheel within a wheel, hiding a much larger network of offshore bank accounts and fake identities.
- Behind the simple political dispute lay a wheel within a wheel of complex alliances and long-standing personal grievances that few observers truly understood.

## Origin

From the Bible, the Book of Ezekiel 1:16, where it appears in a description of the divine chariot. The prophet recounts a vision of celestial creatures accompanied by wheels of beryl, whose construction appeared as a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.