sledgehammer

noun

1. A hammer that consists of a large, heavy, broad and flat block of metal (the head) attached to a handle typically 0.5 meter to 1 meter long. The sledgehammer's design is meant to allow it to be swung powerfully, and to distribute force over a wide area upon impact.

   “These were succeeded by anchor and chain-cable forges, where sledgehammers were dinging upon iron all day long.”

   “They take sledgehammers to statues with an uncommon gusto – destroying in seconds what may have survived centuries.”

verb

1. (transitive)To strike (something) with a sledgehammer.

   “Some lawmakers were so incensed that they even invited the news media to watch the sledgehammering of the Japanese company's products on the Capitol's steps.”

   “She’s trying to piece together shards of precious pottery gleefully sledgehammered by a delegation led by the Taliban’s minister of culture, who deemed the world’s greatest collection of Central Asian artifacts un-Islamic.”

adj

1. Completely lacking grace and dexterity.

   “Promising new treatments avoid the sledgehammer approach of traditional chemotherapy in two key ways."”