use a sledgehammer to crack a nut

English

Etymology

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.”

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌjuːz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmə tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌjuz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmɚ tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌt
• Hyphenation: use a sledge‧ham‧mer to crack a nut

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)

1. (intransitive, Australia, British, New Zealand, idiomatic, informal) To use disproportionate or significantly excessive force to carry out an action; to do something overzealously.

   Synonym: (Canada, US) use a sledgehammer to kill a gnat

   Antonyms: shoot an elephant with a BB gun, kill an elephant with a BB gun

   • 1 W.L.R. 151]”, in The Weekly Law Reports, volume 1, London: Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 155:

     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."]

   • 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, archived from the original on 2023-03-06:

     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. […]'

   • 2022 December 17, Martin Evans, quoting Mike Barton et al., “Law to curb Just Stop Oil protests ‘a sledgehammer to crack a nut’, say ex-police chiefs”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph‎, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-02-18:

     In our view the Public Order Bill is an attempt by the Government to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. At a time when we should be focusing on rebuilding trust in the police, this Bill risks stoking further mistrust and undermining their vital role in protecting the public.

Translations

See also

• break a butterfly upon the wheel
• bring a knife to a gunfight
• overkill
• when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail

References

Further reading

• “use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Colin McIntosh, editor (2013), “a sledgehammer to crack a nut, idiom”, in Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 4th edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, reproduced in the Cambridge English Dictionary website, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• “a sledgehammer to crack a nut, phrase”, in Collins English Dictionary; from Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary, 6th edition, Boston, Mass.: Heinle Cengage Learning; Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009, →ISBN.