# 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: /ˌjuːz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmə tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/
* (General American) IPA: /ˌjuz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmɚ tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/
* Audio (General Australian):(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)
* (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
** [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 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.

#### 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

* ↑ “to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut” under “sledgehammer, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2023.
* ↑ L[evi] Carroll Judson (1851) “Philip Livingston”, in Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution. […], stereotype edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: […] C. Sherman, →OCLC, part I, page 235.

### 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.