as in mallet
a large, heavy hammer with a long handle
broke up the concrete using a sledgehammer
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as in heavy-handed
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as in to cane
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of sledgehammer
E.l. Doctorow, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
But Friday, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and Councilmember Dev Davis grabbed a sledgehammer and took a few whacks at the ranger station slated to be demolished at the Guadalupe River Park’s Confluence Point downtown.
—Sal Pizarro, The Mercury News, 23 Nov. 2024
Bethany Rodgers, The Salt Lake Tribune, 27 Sep. 2021
The Academy Award winner quickly turned into a sledgehammer pro, getting involved in breaking through walls and ripping out fixtures.
—Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 9 July 2021
James Barron, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2020
Should have done steel ball on window, *then* sledgehammer the door.
—Adam Lashinsky, Fortune, 25 Nov. 2019
See all Example Sentences for sledgehammer 
Noun
Measuring the time of the long swings of the sledgehammer between bursts of stone.
—E.l. Doctorow, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
But Friday, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and Councilmember Dev Davis grabbed a sledgehammer and took a few whacks at the ranger station slated to be demolished at the Guadalupe River Park’s Confluence Point downtown.
—Sal Pizarro, The Mercury News, 23 Nov. 2024
Adjective
And Sundwall said that, in retrospect, state health officials took a sledgehammer approach to mitigating the pandemic, such as school closings in 2020, when the state could have taken a more surgical tack.
—Bethany Rodgers, The Salt Lake Tribune, 27 Sep. 2021
The Academy Award winner quickly turned into a sledgehammer pro, getting involved in breaking through walls and ripping out fixtures.
—Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 9 July 2021
Verb
Perhaps the most brazen took place in 1958, when two men sledgehammered the Fifth Avenue display windows in the middle of the night.
—James Barron, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2020
Should have done steel ball on window, *then* sledgehammer the door.
—Adam Lashinsky, Fortune, 25 Nov. 2019
See all Example Sentences for sledgehammer
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sledgehammer
Noun
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According to a police report, the handle of the mallet broke during the attack, which led Tomasini to switch his weapon to a candlestick.—
Mackenzie Mays,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Jan. 2025
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Loading your audio article OAKLAND — A man charged joining another man to beat their victim to death with a mallet and a bicycle may not be mentally competent for trial, according to court records.—
Nate Gartrell,
The Mercury News,
11 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Popular on Variety Frank is a by-the-book type whose rigidity is in part a battle against PTSD from the WW2 military service shown in heavy-handed flashbacks.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
10 Jan. 2025
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Bukele is immensely popular, largely because his heavy-handed security efforts have eviscerated the country’s street gangs.—
Gisela Salomon,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Prune the second-year, woody canes off summer-bearing raspberries once a year after the plants fruit.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
24 July 2024
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In the nearly 250 years since its founding, the United States has witnessed its fair share of political violence, from four presidential assassinations to an 1856 caning on the Senate floor to a 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol that left at least five dead.—
Meilan Solly,
Smithsonian Magazine,
17 July 2024
Noun
-
For success, some species need their seed coat cracked open with a hammer or nicked with a knife.—
Markis Hill,
Kansas City Star,
17 Jan. 2025
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Archaeologists also found a variety of tools, including chisels, a wooden hammer, an adz and a wooden cast for making mud bricks, according to Live Science’s Owen Jarus.—
Sarah Kuta,
Smithsonian Magazine,
16 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Cooper was obsessed with the New World Order and the actions of jackbooted government enforcers against the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and white separatist Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.—
Andrew Stuttaford,
WSJ,
19 Sep. 2018
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Hungary under his rule is far from a jackbooted dictatorship, but its democracy is diverging markedly from that of many of its partners in the European Union.—
Ishaan Tharoor,
Washington Post,
6 Apr. 2018
Verb
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The teen had been stabbed twice in the chest, police said.—
Thomas Tracy,
New York Daily News,
10 Jan. 2025
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Emergency crews at 1:43 a.m. received the report that an individual had been stabbed in the chest, according to Tiadora Josef, director of public information and emergency management for the City of Bridgeport.—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
10 Jan. 2025
Noun
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In videos verified by CNN, dozens of protesters are seen confronting a wall of riot police outside the Pucheng Vocational Technical School, with some hurling batons and other objects towards the officers.—
Shawn Deng,
CNN,
11 Jan. 2025
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Zhang’s baton matched the second act’s edge-of-your-seat melodrama.—
Joshua Barone,
New York Times,
10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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But the backdrops are rendered with an oppressive prettiness that has a perverse cheapening effect.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
7 Jan. 2025
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The total absence of shadow is an oppressive sensation, which engenders a feeling similar to that of claustrophobia.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
6 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near sledgehammer
Cite this Entry
“Sledgehammer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sledgehammer. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
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