as in mallet
a large, heavy hammer with a long handle
broke up the concrete using a sledgehammer
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in heavy-handed
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to cane
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of sledgehammer
Jennifer Lotito, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025
The men found information on target businesses and used pry bars and sledgehammers to break into buildings and open safes that stored pull-tab proceeds, the complaint states.
—Mary Divine, Twin Cities, 5 May 2025
Bethany Rodgers, The Salt Lake Tribune, 27 Sep. 2021
The Academy Award winner quickly turned into a sledgehammer pro, getting involved in breaking through walls and ripping out fixtures.
—Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 9 July 2021
Megan Cassidy, SFChronicle.com, 31 Mar. 2020
Perhaps the most brazen took place in 1958, when two men sledgehammered the Fifth Avenue display windows in the middle of the night.
—James Barron, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2020
See All Example Sentences for sledgehammer
Noun
In a matter of weeks, the Administration effectively took a sledgehammer to the agency, crippling its life-saving work, leaving thousands of Americans unemployed, and millions around the world who depend on American generosity struggling for survival.
—Jennifer Lotito, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025
The men found information on target businesses and used pry bars and sledgehammers to break into buildings and open safes that stored pull-tab proceeds, the complaint states.
—Mary Divine, Twin Cities, 5 May 2025
Adjective
And Sundwall said that, in retrospect, state health officials took a sledgehammer approach to mitigating the pandemic, such as school closings in 2020, when the state could have taken a more surgical tack.
—Bethany Rodgers, The Salt Lake Tribune, 27 Sep. 2021
The Academy Award winner quickly turned into a sledgehammer pro, getting involved in breaking through walls and ripping out fixtures.
—Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 9 July 2021
Verb
The suit stemmed from a May 10, 2019, incident in which police sledgehammered the front gate of his Outer Richmond home, held him in handcuffs for hours and seized his phone, computers and other equipment.
—Megan Cassidy, SFChronicle.com, 31 Mar. 2020
Perhaps the most brazen took place in 1958, when two men sledgehammered the Fifth Avenue display windows in the middle of the night.
—James Barron, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2020
See All Example Sentences for sledgehammer
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sledgehammer
Noun
-
From butcher knives to mallets to plates, Eve and her assailant use just about everything but the kitchen sink against one another, including the kitchen cooler.—
Michileen Martin,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 May 2025
-
The Penzance Musical, an exquisitely funny, meticulously concocted theatrical pavlova—the 1879 operetta The Pirates of Penzance by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan—has been whacked with a mallet.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
25 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
The global institutions that traditionally restrain both secessionist overreach and heavy-handed repression are losing their power to constrain either.—
Ryan D. Griffiths,
Foreign Affairs,
20 May 2025
-
Anno 1800 may have been too heavy-handed here, but Anno 117 seems to overreact by going too far the other way.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
19 May 2025
Verb
-
Both failed to fire, and the hero of the Battle of New Orleans, with a hair-trigger temper, began caning the would-be assassin.—
Barbara A. Perry,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Apr. 2025
-
Rattan appears in just the stool and card table, while complementary materials like raffia, caning, and jute help anchor the room with a neutral foundation.—
Monika Biegler Eyers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
To remove a stubborn hinge pin, place a small screwdriver, bit, nail, or similar item into the bottom of the hinge and tap the pin out with a hammer.—
Kamron Sanders,
Better Homes & Gardens,
25 May 2025
-
The murder weapons included dagger, hatchet, hammer, necktie.—
Rich Cohen,
Rolling Stone,
20 May 2025
Adjective
-
Cooper was obsessed with the New World Order and the actions of jackbooted government enforcers against the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and white separatist Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.—
Andrew Stuttaford,
WSJ,
19 Sep. 2018
-
Hungary under his rule is far from a jackbooted dictatorship, but its democracy is diverging markedly from that of many of its partners in the European Union.—
Ishaan Tharoor,
Washington Post,
6 Apr. 2018
Verb
-
After slaughtering the other contenders and attacking students at the dance, Dan is unmasked after Lori stabs him in the eye with her crown.—
Jane LaCroix,
People.com,
24 May 2025
-
When Jayden tried to intervene, Brand stabbed him as well, according to prosecutors and state witnesses.—
Madeline Buckley,
Chicago Tribune,
23 May 2025
Noun
-
YoungBoy takes the baton and aims at his detractors.—
Michael Saponara,
Billboard,
21 May 2025
-
The previous burst of new production, which was primarily aimed at goosing subscriber numbers for Disney+, was overseen by former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who took the baton from Iger in February 2020.—
Dade Hayes,
Deadline,
7 May 2025
Adjective
-
Contracts of adhesion are sometimes seen as oppressive, especially in the consumer context, but courts often regard them as enforceable.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
20 May 2025
-
The United States held Qaddafi’s Libya up as a success story in the global war on terror, a former rogue state that had made amends for its murderous past, relinquished its nuclear-weapons program and reoriented its oppressive state apparatus around American foreign-policy priorities.—
Henry Leutwyler Robert Petkoff Emma Kehlbeck Quinton Kamara,
New York Times,
20 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sledgehammer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sledgehammer. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share