Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

jackhammer

American  
[jak-ham-er] / ˈdʒækˌhæm ər /

noun

  • jackhammers
    plural
  1. a portable drill operated by compressed air and used to drill rock, break up pavement, etc.


jackhammer British  
/ ˈdʒækˌhæmə /

noun

  1. a hand-held hammer drill, driven by compressed air, for drilling rocks, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of jackhammer

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30; jack 1 + hammer

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:

If you’re a fan of Croatia, I think you might want to stop reading here and go do something less stressful, like operating a jackhammer, or wrestling a sock drawer full of cobras.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 3, 2026

In the end, Guadagnino takes a jackhammer to everything he’s spent the last two-plus hours so meticulously building, but not quite in the way one might expect.

From Salon Sep. 25, 2025

Let’s say you’re out on some rugged outcropping and you need to jump on your jackhammer for a few minutes.

From Slate Jul. 18, 2024

A tiny, transparent fish makes a sound as loud as a jackhammer, scientists have discovered.

From BBC Feb. 26, 2024

Gradually, Arm adjusted, as one adjusts to the sound of a jackhammer, but he was never really comfortable.

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer

Trump, who built a career as a real estate developer, has frequently touted the project, gushing over the sounds of jackhammers and excavation trucks.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 8, 2026

The roar of bulldozers and jackhammers drilling into piles of debris is almost constant.

From BBC Apr. 10, 2025

The technician positioned me to slide through the metal arc of an MRI machine while the sound of jackhammers pounded.

From Salon Sep. 30, 2024

The jackhammers are aminocyanine molecules, a class of fluorescent synthetic dyes used for medical imaging.

From Science Daily Dec. 19, 2023

With the jackhammers silent, 426 fed Frightful again and nervously sat down and brooded the eggs while she exercised.

From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training