What does hacksawed mean?
Hacksawed is the past tense and past participle of hacksaw, a verb meaning to cut something with a frame-mounted, coarse-toothed saw. In ordinary literal use, it describes a branch, plank, or piece of metal that has been cut with a hacksaw: “The old timber was hacksawed into lengths.” The word can also be used figuratively when a person or organization cuts through a problem or divides a larger body into smaller parts, often with an implication of laborious, unsparing, or piecemeal action. Hacksawed is uncommon as an everyday standalone word but readily understood wherever sawing occurs, and it appears more freely in literary and figurative contexts. Its exact past form is important: hacksaw is the present-tense verb and the name of the tool, while hacksawed is its inflected form. Though most often associated with workshop and demolition work, the word conveys more than a simple cut, since a hacksaw is suited to making rough, incremental cuts through substantial material.
To cut or sever something with a hacksaw; figuratively, to cut through or divide something with determined, piecemeal action.
"The crew hacksawed through the fallen tree and cleared the road."
The form is both the past tense and the past participle.
Having been cut with a hacksaw; figuratively, having been cut through or divided.
"The workers stacked the hacksawed boards beside the shed."
Usually functions as a participial modifier before a noun.
When a company is hacksawed, it has been cut into smaller pieces—sometimes painfully, sometimes by design.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does hacksawed come from?
Hacksaw is an English compound formed from hack and saw, with hack referring to a frame used to support a large saw and the complete compound eventually denoting the tool itself. The verb hacksaw developed from this compound and takes the regular past form hacksawed. Its saw element is inherited from Old English saga and has close Germanic cognates including German Säge and Dutch zaag.
Related word forms
How hacksawed is actually used
Outside workshop and construction contexts, the word is mainly literary or figurative. It can suggest rough, laborious, or unsparing cutting and is understood in formal as well as informal writing.
Easily confused with hacksawed
Sawed can describe cutting with any kind of saw, whereas hacksawed specifically refers to cutting with a hacksaw.
Hacksaw is the base verb and the name of the tool, while hacksawed is its past-tense and past-participle form.