hammer out

verb

hammered out; hammering out; hammers out
Synonyms of hammer outnext

transitive verb

: to produce or bring about as if by repeated blows
hammered out an agreement

Synonyms of hammer out

Relevance
See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

Examples of hammer out in a Sentence

the city council hammered out new commercial development regulations with input from residents, business owners, and environmental activists
Recent Examples on the Web
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.
In 2011, former Time Warner Cable executives hammered out the 20-year agreement with the Lakers, then owned by the late Jerry Buss. — Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026 After hammering out the details in recent weeks, the Miami-Dade school board agreed Wednesday on a contract for Rafael Villalobos to take the reins as superintendent of the district. — Austin Horn, Miami Herald, 20 Aug. 2026 The memorandum was intended to give the two sides two more months to hammer out a peace deal, but the parameters of the preliminary agreement instead quickly fell apart, leaving no end in sight to a war that started in late February. — Joey Garrison, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2026 The group was created by Martin last year to hammer out the party’s official stance on Israel and Gaza. — Mabinty Quarshie, The Washington Examiner, 13 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for hammer out

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1632, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hammer out was circa 1632

Rhymes for hammer out

See All Rhymes for hammer out

Browse Nearby Words

hammer mill
hammer out
hammer oyster
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hammer out.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hammer%20out. Accessed 28 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

Kids Definition

hammer out

verb
: to produce or bring about by persistent effort
hammered out an agreement
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of cogent

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Aug. 28

Why do we say 'break a leg'?
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All