steamroller

«steamroller» in Mova's school dictionary: A heavy machine with big, wide rollers that flattens… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (a steamroller, steamrollers); verb (steamroller, steamrollers, steamrollered, steamrollering)

meaning for a pupil

1) A heavy machine with big, wide rollers that flattens roads; once powered by steam, now usually by diesel (often called a road roller). tree →

2) (verb, informal) To force something through or defeat someone easily with great power, ignoring objections. tree →

3) (noun, figurative) A force that crushes all opposition. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life and children's books, steamrollers flatten new roads. In news and sport, a team «steamrollered» another means beat them easily; a leader «steamrollers» a plan through means forced it without listening.

examples

• The steamroller flattened the new road. tree →
• The cartoon cat was squashed flat by a steamroller. tree →
• The team steamrollered their opponents 8–0. tree →
• The boss steamrollered the plan through the meeting. tree →
• Old steamrollers puff smoke at the vintage show. tree →
• We watched the steamroller go slowly back and forth. tree →

note

Countable; one word. Past: steamrollered (or steamrolled in the USA). A modern machine is a road roller.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «steamroller» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.