Word.ws English Dictionary

employ a steam engine to crack a nut

employ a steam engine to crack a nut verb: to carry out a simple task in an overcomplicated manner.

Verb

employ a steam engine to crack a nut (third-person singular simple present employs a steam engine to crack a nut, present participle employing a steam engine to crack a nut, simple past and past participle employed a steam engine to crack a nut)

  1. (idiomatic, rare) To carry out a simple task in an overcomplicated manner.

Forms of employ a steam engine to crack a nut

third-person singular presentemploys a steam engine to crack a nut
present participleemploying a steam engine to crack a nut
past participleemployed a steam engine to crack a nut
pastemployed a steam engine to crack a nut

Questions about employ a steam engine to crack a nut

What does employ a steam engine to crack a nut mean?
Employ a steam engine to crack a nut means to carry out a simple task in an overcomplicated manner.
What part of speech is employ a steam engine to crack a nut?
Employ a steam engine to crack a nut is a verb.
What is the past tense of employ a steam engine to crack a nut?
The past tense of employ a steam engine to crack a nut is employed a steam engine to crack a nut.

Words near employ a steam engine to crack a nut in the dictionary

  1. emplotments
  2. emplots
  3. emplotted
  4. emplotting
  5. employ
  6. employ a steam engine to crack a nut
  7. employ'd
  8. employabilities
  9. employability
  10. employable
  11. employables

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: employ a steam engine to crack a nut (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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