hammer home

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

hammer home (third-person singular simple present hammers home, present participle hammering home, simple past and past participle hammered home)

  1. (idiomatic) To repeatedly or continually emphasise (an opinion or idea) until or so that a person or group of people understands it.
    Our instructor would hammer home the point that safety was most important.
    • 2009 August, “So long sulphur”, in Nature Chemistry‎[1], volume 1, number 5, →DOI, →ISSN, page 333:
      What would Fred Flintstone say if we insisted on spelling his name Phred Phlintstone! Just to hammer the point home, IUPAC only accepts alternative spellings for two elements, and neither of them is sulfur: 'aluminum' and 'cesium' are fair game, although Nature Chemistry uses aluminium and caesium.
    • 2020 December 21, Bryan Lufkin, “How 'linguistic mirroring' can make you more convincing”, in BBC‎[2]:
      In other situations, you might know someone who adds colour with personal anecdotes and feelings. You could shoot off a similar response – perhaps including a short story of your own to hammer home your point.
    • 2023 August 23, Pip Dunn, “The last bastion of the HST 'Castles'”, in RAIL, number 990, page 49:
      Seeing that it was withdrawn in perfectly good working order hammers it home: these trains are on borrowed time.

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