sledgehammer

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: sledge=ham=mer

OXFORD DICTIONARY

sledgehammer, n.
1 a large heavy hammer used to break stone etc.
2 (attrib.) heavy or powerful (a sledgehammer blow).

Etymology

OE slecg, rel. to SLAY(1)

THESAURUS

sledgehammer

bang, baste, batter, beat, buffet, bulldozer, coercive, drub, flail, flap, forcible, hammer, knock, lambaste, larrup, maul, paste, patter, pelt, pommel, pound, pulverize, pummel, rap, spank, steamroller, strong-arm, thrash, thresh, thump, violent, wallop, whip