use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
Syllables: use a sledge·ham·mer to crack a nutUK/ˌjuːz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmə tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/US/ˌjuz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmɚ tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/
use a sledgehammer to crack a nut verb: to use disproportionate or significantly excessive force to carry out an action; to do something overzealously.
Verb
use a sledgehammer to crack a nut (third-person singular simple present uses a sledgehammer to crack a nut, present participle using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, simple past and past participle used a sledgehammer to crack a nut)
- To use disproportionate or significantly excessive force to carry out an action; to do something overzealously.
- This last mentioned consideration involves the concept in Community law (derived principally from German law) called "proportionality". In plain English it means "You must not use a steam hammer to crack a nut, if a nutcracker would do."[1983 January 20, Lord Diplock [i.e., Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock]; Lord of Appeal in Ordinary; House of Lords, “Regina, respondent, and Goldstein, appellant [[1983] 1 W.L.R. 151]”, in The Weekly...
- Today, Mr [Anthony] Worthington, an engineer, said: 'Sending three officers over simply to give a warning about kids playing football in the street is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.[…]'2010 September 21, “‘A sledgehammer to crack a nut’: Three police officers and a patrol car rush to … children playing football in the street”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC...
- Synonyms:
- use a sledgehammer to kill a gnat
- Antonyms:
- shoot an elephant with a BB gun, kill an elephant with a BB gun
Synonyms of use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
- use a sledgehammer to kill a gnat
Antonyms
- shoot an elephant with a BB gun
- kill an elephant with a BB gun
Forms of use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
| third-person singular present | uses a sledgehammer to crack a nut |
|---|---|
| present participle | using a sledgehammer to crack a nut |
| past participle | used a sledgehammer to crack a nut |
| past | used a sledgehammer to crack a nut |
Origin of use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
The analogy dates back to at least the middle of the 19th century: see, for example, this quotation from Levi Carroll Judson’s work Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution (1851): “He at once became the nucleus around which a band of patriots gathered and formed a nut too hard to be cracked by the sledgehammer of monarchy.”
Words that rhyme with use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
Questions about use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
- What does use a sledgehammer to crack a nut mean?
- Use a sledgehammer to crack a nut means to use disproportionate or significantly excessive force to carry out an action; to do something overzealously.
- What part of speech is use a sledgehammer to crack a nut?
- Use a sledgehammer to crack a nut is a verb.
- How do you pronounce use a sledgehammer to crack a nut?
- Use a sledgehammer to crack a nut is pronounced /ˌjuːz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmə tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of use a sledgehammer to crack a nut?
- The past tense of use a sledgehammer to crack a nut is used a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
Words near use a sledgehammer to crack a nut in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: use a sledgehammer 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-use a sledgehammer to crack a nut.ogg.
Cite this entry: “use a sledgehammer to crack a nut.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/use_a_sledgehammer_to_crack_a_nut. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.