jawbreaker
Americannoun
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Informal. a word that is hard to pronounce.
real jawbreakers like "antidisestablishmentarianism" or "antiangiogenic."
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a very hard, usually round, candy.
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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.
noun
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Also called: jawcrusher. a device having hinged jaws for crushing rocks and ores
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informal a word that is hard to pronounce
Other Word Forms
- jawbreaking adjective
- jawbreakingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of jawbreaker
Explanation
A jawbreaker is a big, hard, round piece of candy. You can often tell when a little kid is sucking on a jawbreaker from the bulge in her cheek. In North America, the word jawbreaker usually refers to a very sweet kind of candy that can't be bitten because it's so hard. Another kind of jawbreaker is a word that's difficult to pronounce. Words like remuneration and mnemonics are considered jawbreakers by many people, including native English speakers. The adjective jawbreakingly came first, around 1824, describing tricky words, and the candy emerged in 1911. Both versions of jawbreaker use the figurative sense of "breaking" one's jaw, either with language or hard candy.
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.
Most people give little thought to Earth’s deep interior, thinking of our home planet as simple nested layers, like a jawbreaker hard candy.
From Washington Post • Apr. 10, 2023
“You could get the giant jawbreaker, the one the size of a tennis ball, and you’d have it for a year.”
From New York Times • Jul. 5, 2022
Arlene Shechet's 17 recent sculptures at Susanne Vielmetter's new downtown L.A. gallery make for an absolute jawbreaker of a show: deliciously unwieldy, a slow release of intense, kaleidoscopic flavor.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2019
A black jawbreaker rolls out into his hand.
From The Guardian • Aug. 6, 2010
They are jawbreaker cookies because they are hard until you dip them in tea.
From "Lucky Broken Girl" by Ruth Behar
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.
