Wiktionary

sledgehammer

English

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Etymology

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A sledgehammer.

Compound of sledge +‎ hammer.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sledgehammer (plural sledgehammers)

  1. A hammer that consists of a large, heavy, broad and flat block of metal (the head) attached to a handle typically 0.5 meter to 1 meter long. The sledgehammer's design is meant to allow it to be swung powerfully, and to distribute force over a wide area upon impact.

Alternative forms

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Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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sledgehammer (third-person singular simple present sledgehammers, present participle sledgehammering, simple past and past participle sledgehammered)

  1. (transitive) To strike (something) with a sledgehammer.
    • 1989 December 10, Clyde H. Farnsworth, “Japan's Loud Voice in Washington”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      Some lawmakers were so incensed that they even invited the news media to watch the sledgehammering of the Japanese company's products on the Capitol's steps.
    • 2009 February 22, Jane And Michael Stern, “Nirvana Express”, in The New York Times‎[2]:
      She’s trying to piece together shards of precious pottery gleefully sledgehammered by a delegation led by the Taliban’s minister of culture, who deemed the world’s greatest collection of Central Asian artifacts un-Islamic.

Adjective

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sledgehammer (comparative more sledgehammer, superlative most sledgehammer)

  1. Completely lacking grace and dexterity.
    • 2015 October 26, Michael Boyer, “Brave new world of cancer treatment revealed”, in The University of Sydney‎[3]:
      Promising new treatments avoid the sledgehammer approach of traditional chemotherapy in two key ways."

Further reading

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