0 a large, heavy hammer with a long handle, used for breaking stones or other heavy material, or for hitting posts into the ground, etc. --
1 a large, heavy hammer with a long handle, used for jobs like breaking stones or hitting posts into the ground --
It was a crude instrument—a sledgehammer of an instrument.
So we must take a sledgehammer to deal with it.
To use the full weight of company law in order to regulate small private companies is to use a sledgehammer to swat a fly.
It is no use facing them with a sledgehammer and confrontation.
The spectacle of representatives of the industry arriving at old ladies' doors with sledgehammers to break down the doors and remove electricity meters persists.
The occasional sledgehammer may not be enough to overcome what is a pervasive practice.
There is more danger that a sledgehammer will bring the house down than accomplish any good or complicated repairs.
Taken together, those measures amount to a sledgehammer, which might be appropriate for a serious complaint.