Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🚜 A heavy machine 💪 An unstoppable force 💪 To overpower 🚜 To flatten
steamroller

steamroller

3 5.4
A force that crushes anything in its path
  • noun
  • /ˈstiːmˌroʊlər/
translation icon : apisonadora
  • With her charisma and determination, she became a steamroller in the election, easily winning over supporters.
  • a conservative steamroller
  • called a steamroller

Christopher Commons from Patreon says he asks, I mean, why did Russia not have the same steamroller effect in World War One as they did in World War Two?

Examples

  • The company's aggressive expansion strategy was a steamroller, overwhelming competitors and securing a dominant market position.

  • McGovern later called his bid an "anti-organization" effort against the Humphrey steamroller.

    Blog text (13)

  • By 1957, rock and roll was a cultural steamroller.

    Blog text (25)

  • Who will stand up to the Boehner-Obama steamroller after the elections?

    Blog text (22)

  • After the Republicans' "winner take all" steamroller politics, power has now swung to the Democrats.

    Blog text (9)

  • Every spring I hear fewer bird species and individuals sing, but the pennies I mail to conservation organizations are squashed under the steamroller of development.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The new policy acted like a steamroller, crushing any opposition from the dissenting members of the committee.

Synonyms

juggernaut
vssteamroller
17 9.1

A very large powerful force that cannot be stopped, for example a company or government

is a general unstoppable crushing idea not focused on institutions
force of nature
vssteamroller
13 6.4

A person or thing with great, unstoppable power like a storm

is a human made crushing force that flattens opposition rather than natural power
pulverizer
vssteamroller
  • US
1 8.2

A person or thing that defeats others very easily and completely

is an unstoppable force that crushes opposition rather than simple defeat
ravager
vssteamroller
1 8.0

A person or thing that causes a lot of damage

is an unstoppable force that crushes opposition rather than simply causing damage
Russian steamroller
vssteamroller
  • Informal
8.7

A powerful, unstoppable force that crushes all resistance

is the identical idea but without the national qualifier

Antonyms

resistance
214 4.0

Refusal to accept a change or new rule

Compounds

Russian steamroller
  • Informal
8.7

A powerful, unstoppable force that crushes all resistance

How Overwhelming

juggernaut
17 9.1
steamroller
3 5.4
bulldozer
61 3.1
force
  • Specialized
∞ 2.3
pressure
256 3.2

Surface Forms

steamroller singular
steamrollers plural

Morphology

steamroller = steam + roller (semi-transparent) = steam + roll + er

The compound clearly evokes a machine that rolls and crushes, but the sense 'an overwhelming force' is a figurative extension rather than a fully literal meaning.

Etymology

Steamroller comes from the heavy machine that rolls and flattens everything in its path, so calling a movement or person a 'steamroller' gives the picture of an unstoppable force that crushes opposition. That's why we use it for something that overwhelms or wins easily.