sledgehammer
Americannoun
verb (used with or without object)
adjective
noun
-
a large heavy hammer with a long handle used with both hands for heavy work such as forging iron, breaking rocks, etc
-
(modifier) resembling the action of a sledgehammer in power, ruthlessness, etc
a sledgehammer blow
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sledgehammersimple
-
sledgehammerssimple
-
have sledgehammeredperfect
-
has sledgehammeredperfect
-
am sledgehammeringprogressive
-
are sledgehammeringprogressive
-
is sledgehammeringprogressive
-
have been sledgehammeringperfect progressive
-
has been sledgehammeringperfect progressive
Past
-
sledgehammeredsimple
-
had sledgehammeredperfect
-
was sledgehammeringprogressive
-
were sledgehammeringprogressive
-
had been sledgehammeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sledgehammer
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"One of them answers and says he's wounded in the stomach," he said, recounting how their father and another brother were using a pickaxe and a sledgehammer to try to break them free.
From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026
If we encounter any ice, we have an ice pick or sledgehammer.
From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2026
Characters state the obvious and the dialogue has the delicacy of a sledgehammer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2026
Ian Russell, the father of Molly Russell, told BBC's Newscast that the government should enforce existing laws rather than "implementing sledgehammer techniques like bans".
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2026
John Henry wanted the mightiest sledgehammer in all the land, and the Msaidizi presented itself as that.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
"The effort it took me to get her out of there with my bare hands, with sledgehammers, with pickaxes... you can't even begin to imagine," he said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Many residents facing demolition orders are opting to take sledgehammers to their own properties to avoid hefty costs and fines imposed by the municipality which typically total tens of thousands of dollars.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
The show featured the actors who played the Brady kids taking sledgehammers to the interiors while “Property Brothers” stars Drew and Jonathan Scott reshaped the living spaces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
“The architecture must speak,” Dochantschi said, above the noise of sledgehammers and buzzsaws, which are transforming the derelict space into a flexible showroom for the multicultural artists of Alexander Gray Associates.
From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2023
All around, sledgehammers rang against iron as swarms of men and women clambered over the ancient oil tanker, tearing it apart.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
The shock of her death sledgehammered a country teetering on an ugly and desperate edge.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2020
You won’t feel sledgehammered by Gunderson’s overhaul of the text: Her adaptation hews enough to the plot to satisfactorily honor the original and still support some of her own playfulness.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 11, 2019
As he sledgehammered up and down the court through these finals, looking for support that never really came, I found myself wondering: what must it feel like to be LeBron?
From The Guardian ● Jun. 9, 2018
After Thamer parked outside, we ran from the Humvee through a hole sledgehammered into one of the walls.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 29, 2017
The original stand has been sledgehammered to make way for a fancy new shop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2015
I’d filed the piece with a suggested headline saying the song was “a sledgehammering return to the dance floor,” a phrase that, you know, actually indicated how the song sounds.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026
This is what good investments look like — at least for one game — Khalil Mack sledgehammering loose the football and bringing down a quarterback and, with him, an entire opposing team.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2022
But in practice, Quibi’s content felt less revolutionary than underbaked, slapdash concepts sledgehammering the viewer with abrupt hits of celebrity.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 29, 2020
Seinfeld worked construction, sledgehammering walls for $25 a day.
From Time ● Sep. 19, 2017
That, or a really, really angry guy has started sledgehammering the wall, such is the way the music pulses.
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
