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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to cane
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of sledgehammer
Andrew Gilholm, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2017
Free speech is being dismantled—but not with a sledgehammer in a single dramatic action.
—Richard Torrenzano, Fortune, 11 Sep. 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
Although selective with the CCDI sledgehammer, Xi has certainly been undercutting rivals in other ways.
—Andrew Gilholm, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2017
Free speech is being dismantled—but not with a sledgehammer in a single dramatic action.
—Richard Torrenzano, Fortune, 11 Sep. 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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Walker showed me a video of the fingers surviving blows from a mallet.James Somers, The New Yorker, 25 Nov. 2024
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Place a piece of plastic wrap on top and use a meat mallet to flatten.Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 25 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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And just as with human economies, these markets will need some light touch, not heavy-handed rules of the road through regulation or market infrastructure, like a way to transact and transfer value.Korok Ray, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
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This mode of storytelling can be heavy-handed for the sake of mass appeal, but director Kiran Rao deftly combines the literal and symbolic, resulting in a crowd-pleaser filled — for better or worse — with innate goodness.Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 10 Dec. 2024
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
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Think of trust as a foundation, and each lie is a hammer slowly chipping away at it.Sho Dewan, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2024
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Sean Combs’ physical violence was allegedly directed at both his romantic partners and personal employees, with the music mogul accused of once attempting to beat down a woman’s door with a hammer.Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 25 Nov. 2024
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 episode was recorded in November at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, where Mangum is serving time after being convicted of second-degree murder for stabbing her boyfriend in April 2011.Jenna West, The Athletic, 14 Dec. 2024
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An Indianapolis woman who stabbed an Asian student in her head multiple times has been sentenced to six years in prison for the hate crime.Angel Saunders, People.com, 13 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Indy can pick up pretty much anything from broomsticks to batons to protect himself and can engage in a relatively complex version of POV fisticuffs that allows players to block, parry, and punch with either hand.Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 10 Dec. 2024
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After more than two minutes, Officer Laxman Acharya, also with the Fourth Division, arrived and attempted to use an expandable baton to gain leverage over one of Thompson's arms.Marina Johnson, The Courier-Journal, 4 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The ongoing siege at the Argentine embassy in Caracas is a stark reminder of the oppressive lengths to which Nicolás Maduro’s regime will go to silence dissent.David Smolansky, National Review, 12 Dec. 2024
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But that sensibility seems especially widespread right now at the tail end of an already challenging year, and on the precipice of what is bound to be an exhausting, oppressive period.James Factora, Them, 11 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near sledgehammer
Cite this Entry
“Sledgehammer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sledgehammer. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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