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Glite Dictionary
hard slam

hard slam

4.1
A very loud forceful closing of a door or window
  • noun
  • /hɑrd slæm/
translation icon : portazo
  • After the argument, he made his point clear with a final hard slam of the car trunk.

Examples

  • When the barbarian looked back to his work, he understood the dwarf's mirth, for the metal spear he had been shaping was now badly bowed in the middle from the too-hard slams on the overheated metal.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The loud hard slam of the door startled everyone in the room.

  • She left the house in a hurry, and the hard slam of the front door echoed down the street.

Synonyms

slam
vshard slam
85 2.1

A loud noise when something hits or closes suddenly

is much stronger in force than a general loud impact

How Forceful

hard slam
4.1
slam
85 2.1
to close
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

hard slam singular
hard slams plural

Morphology

hard + slam

Both constituents are semantically transparent: 'slam' denotes a sudden loud bang and 'hard' denotes very forceful, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a very forceful, loud closing or impact. The adjective+noun intensification pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, making the overall meaning predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Hard slam comes from the picture of a heavy door or gate being shut with a strong hit. Hard shows the force and slam is the loud bang, so hard slam means 'a very forceful and loud closing'.