use a sledgehammer to crack a nut

动词 v.
中文释义
英 /ˌjuːz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmə tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/    美 /ˌjuz‿ə ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmɚ tə ˌkɹæk‿ə ˈnʌt/

英文释义

动词 v.
  1. To use disproportionate or significantly excessive force to carry out an action; to do something overzealously. Australia,New-Zealand,UK,idiomatic,informal
    — 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."

词形变化

uses a sledgehammer to crack a nut present,singular,third-person using a sledgehammer to crack a nut participle,present used a sledgehammer to crack a nut participle,past used a sledgehammer to crack a nut past

词源

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.”
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