HAMMER AND TONGS Synonyms: 134 Similar and Opposite Words

hammer-and-tongs 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of hammer-and-tongs

as in violent

marked by bursts of destructive force or intense activity the scuffle escalated into a hammer-and-tongs fight

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

hammer and tongs

2 of 2

adverb

as in sharply

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of hammer-and-tongs

Adverb

In 1971, authors Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal went at it hammer and tongs live on late-night TV in a showdown that allegedly spilled over into violence. — Chris Wheatley, Longreads, 16 July 2024 The action on Nevarro is crisp and well-presented, highlighted by the Armorer taking out the sniper’s nest singlehandedly with only her hammer and tongs as weapons. — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 29 Mar. 2023 The two conservative groups that brought the case were targeted by Harris in 2012-13, right around the time the IRS was going hammer and tongs after Tea Party groups. — Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 1 July 2021 Two teams who seem destined to slug it out in the lower reaches of the table this season going hammer and tongs at each other never makes for a good watch. — SI.com, 18 Sep. 2019 With two moderate Pyrenean climbs, Thursday’s Stage 12 from Toulouse, where cassoulet and rugby are both big, wasn’t tough enough for Thomas and his rivals to go at each other hammer and tongs. — Washington Post, 18 July 2019 The way to stand out from the others is to go hammer and tongs for the opponents’ jugulars, or to try to sound more extreme than the others. — Jim Jones, idahostatesman, 18 May 2018

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hammer-and-tongs

Adjective

Government critics and human rights campaigners have alleged that police tactics in the last month have been unnecessarily violent.

— ABC News, ABC News, 21 Oct. 2026
But complicating the government's efforts to bring the French deficit under control are widespread protests that have turned increasingly violent since starting as a Parisian student movement last month.

— Chloe Taylor, CNBC, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of violent

Adverb

The charges have been sharply reduced since May and many residents have been seeing a credit on their monthly bills as the public benefits charges have been temporarily eliminated.

— Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 28 Oct. 2026
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sharply criticized the diesel deal.

— Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 27 Oct. 2026

Definition of sharply

Adjective

One of the most celebrated objects from the India Museum is a mechanical wooden sculpture of a ferocious tiger gnawing at a British soldier’s throat.

— Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026
Wilson rocked the stanchion with a ferocious dunk in transition in the fourth quarter, only to have his next attempt at a full-court sprint smacked away by Jamal Shead, leading to a Leonard 3-pointer on the other end.

— Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of ferocious

Adverb

Organisms not resistant to this onslaught—anything from microbes and crops to whales and humans—would experience an almost violently severe sunburn.

— Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
In Italy, a march in central Milan on Saturday over living costs also ended violently, with rioters attacking the police with stones and paving blocks and setting fire to barricades.

— Sawdah Bhaimiya, CNBC, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of violently

Adjective

Projects that communities had originally welcomed were suddenly met with fierce opposition, and companies had to improve.

— Neil Chatterjee, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2026
What is to come afterwards is when their world is on fire as the fierce Battle Of Okinawa Island takes them , and us, back to sad reality.

— Pete Hammond, Deadline, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of fierce

Adverb

Rooting it very fiercely in a time period felt like the wrong choice.

— Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2026
The first season of Carrie follows misfit high-schooler Carrie White (Howell) who has spent her life hidden away inside the walls of her home with her fiercely protective mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan).

— Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of fiercely

Adverb

Funding for Platte County police came to a heated front in a county commission meeting earlier this year where Sheriff Erik Holland and Prosecuting Attorney Erik Zahnd vehemently argued that the law enforcement budget was too low.

— Sophie Lindberg, Kansas City Star, 27 Oct. 2026
The assassination was ordered personally by Walter Ulbricht, head of the Berlin Communist Party, as was widely reported at the time, though it was vehemently denied.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2026

Definition of vehemently

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hammer

hammer-and-tongs

hammer and tongs

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“Hammer-and-tongs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hammer-and-tongs. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of hammer-and-tongs

adjective

adverb

Example Sentences

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