(noun) the solution, approach, or response needed to achieve progress against a particularly knotty problem, as in “We’ve identified three unlocks that will help the ministry make progress on the issue of primary education” ; similar to the solve or the ask, this jargon takes a verb and repurposes it as a noun; changing the usual part of speech is arresting, which is partly responsible for its popularity1
- The word has also been memorably bellowed during the testy Brexit debates by John Bercow, the unconventional Speaker of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons. The meaning is different, since in that context it relates to a specific parliamentary procedure. ↩