crowbar
Americannoun
-
crowbars
plural
verb (used with object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of crowbar
1740–50, crow 1 + bar 1; so called because one end was beak-shaped
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:
“There was nothing else—not even a crowbar or a pickax—to break through the concrete.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
Armed with nothing but a crowbar and shovel in the hills of Somaliland, Ahmed Ibrahim hacks away at rocks where he and fellow miners have already found tonnes of lithium.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
If our hearts weren’t already open, they’ve just been forced ajar with a rusty, emotional crowbar.
From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2025
With a crowbar I could have reached down and touched them, felt the pulse of the world’s information traveling through my fingertips.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2025
A crowbar is for lifting up or prying apart something heavy.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
We saw families and volunteers, wearing masks and rubber gloves, trying to dig through the rubble with spades and crowbars.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
They had all the equipment at the ready: crowbars, shovels, and mallets.
From Slate ● Dec. 15, 2024
During those searches, two blue crowbars, pruning shears and a cutting tool were found in a nearby pond and in the Paar River, the statement said.
From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
Footage from the area shows residents digging in brown earth with their bare hands, or using hoes, sticks, crowbars and other tools.
From Reuters ● Nov. 23, 2022
They set down, and two policemen got to work on the door with crowbars.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
Argentina, who fought back from 21 points down to beat Scotland last weekend, crowbarred their way back into the contest though.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2025
This is what happens when a bill is so wide-ranging that almost any domestic policy issue can be crowbarred into it.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2023
Crisp, thin French fries are crowbarred into the taco, gently punctuated with green and red salsa and the bracing freshness of cilantro and onion.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2019
In the past, Americana artists were crowbarred into folk or blues categories, or not nominated at all.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 25, 2016
Despite the cold, they sweated profusely at their tasks, stripping off over-garments as they picked and shoveled or crowbarred out the rich gravel.
From A Man to His Mate by Stockton Mulford
Sometimes it goes against Ancelotti’s own preferences but he is not just crowbarring players in any old place to get as many stars in the side as he can.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 27, 2014
That mention of the Mad Squirrels, a nickname that is always worth crowbarring in, also allows a quick nod to the quietly impressive progress that is being made in the Czech Republic.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 12, 2013
But with our third paragraph well underway and confidence about crowbarring a gag in any sentence now, let's address Barcelona's bid, believed to be worth just over £29m.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 2, 2010
“Well, in crowbarring me out of your scheme of life, if you insist on knowing,” were the words that came from the husband sitting so close beside me.
From The Prairie Child by Ward. E. F. (Edmund Franklin)
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.
