Definition of "sledgehammer" [sledgehammer]

• A long heavy hammer, often wielded with both hands, used for driving wedges and posts and for other heavy work. (noun)
• To strike with or as if with a sledgehammer. (verb-transitive)
• Ruthlessly severe; crushing: sledgehammer prosecutorial tactics. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In January it emerged that the plan - codenamed "sledgehammer" - had been hatched at the highest levels of the military to plant bombs to destabilise the government."
• "As for leisure activities, a few old weights and a sledgehammer is the gym."
• "COOPER (voice-over): As for leisure activities, a few old weights and a sledgehammer is the gym."