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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

That’s roughly as loud as standing next to a pummeling jackhammer.

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 11, 2024

I reached the top of the serac without it collapsing and flopped breathless onto its flat summit, my heart pounding like a jackhammer.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Led by Luis Chiappe, director of the Natural History Museum’s Dinosaur Institute, the paleontologists return with generators and tents and jackhammers and dental picks.

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 15, 2024

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

“Every morning you can feel the vibrations from the jackhammers and you see rocks tumbling down,” one woman told state broadcaster Rai.

From BBC Jul. 23, 2024

Dump trucks rumble throughout the small city, including in front of the 160-year-old City Hall, where jackhammers and excavators claw at the pavement, following plans to green the adjacent plaza with trees and benches.

From New York Times Apr. 12, 2024

Men with ear protectors picked up their jackhammers and tested them.

From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

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