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jawbreaker

[jaw-brey-ker]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR jawbreaker ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Informal. a word that is hard to pronounce.
a very hard, usually round, candy.
Also called jaw crusher. Mining. a machine used to break up ore, consisting of a fixed plate and a hinged jaw moved by a toggle joint.

Origin of jawbreaker

First recorded in 1830–40; jaw1 + breaker1
Related formsjaw·break·ing, adjectivejaw·break·ing·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for jawbreaker

sweet, bonbon, confectionery, sweetmeat, confit, hokum

Examples from the Web for jawbreaker

Contemporary Examples of jawbreaker

  • His title is a jawbreaker: director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

    The Daily Beast logo
    Obama's Slavery Czar

    Lynn Sherr

    November 24, 2009

Historical Examples of jawbreaker

  • He had been careful, however, to pick the jawbreaker up and put it in his mouth.

    Pee-Wee Harris Adrift

    Percy Keese Fitzhugh

  • Well, you see, hes the only fellow in the club who knows how to pronounce the names of those Russian and Polish jawbreaker towns.

    Anecdotes of the Great War

    Carleton Britton Case

British Dictionary definitions for jawbreaker

jawbreaker

noun

Also called: jawcrusher a device having hinged jaws for crushing rocks and ores
informal a word that is hard to pronounce
Derived Formsjawbreaking, adjectivejawbreakingly, adverb
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