1
: a short thick piece or lump (as of wood or coal)
2
: a large noteworthy quantity or part
bet a sizable chunk of money on the race
3
: a strong thickset horse usually smaller than a draft horse
4
psychology
: a unit of information retained in the memory and easily recalled
The process of memorizing may be simply the formation of chunks, or groups of items that go together, until there are few enough chunks so that we can recall all the items.—
Marilyn Sternglass
Marilyn SternglassA chunk represents a recoding of information. For example, the sequence 149217761941 would, for most of us, be a snap to remember. Almost automatically we'd recode the 12 digits into three chunks, 1492, 1776, 1941, all key dates in US history.—Robert Kanigel
Robert Kanigel
chunked; chunking; chunks
: to make a dull plunging or explosive sound
the rhythmic chunking of thrown quoits—John Updike
John Updike1
: to mishit (a golf ball or shot) by striking the ground behind the ball
2
psychology
: to organize (separate units of information) into a single large unit that is retained in the memory and easily recalled
To recall a 10-digit telephone number, for instance, a person could chunk the digits into three groups: the area code (such as 021), then a three-digit chunk (639) and a four-digit chunk (4345).—Jonathan K. Foster
Jonathan K. FosterSynonyms
Noun
- abundance
- barrel
- basketful
- boatload
- bucket
- bunch
- bundle
- bushel
- carload
- deal
- dozen
- fistful
- gobs
- good deal
- heap
- hundred
- lashings [chiefly British]
- lashins
- loads
- lot
- mass
- mess
- mountain
- much
- multiplicity
- myriad
- oodles
- pack
- passel
- peck
- pile
- plateful
- plenitude
- plentitude
- plenty
- pot
- potful
- profusion
- quantity
- raft
- reams
- scads
- sheaf
- shipload
- sight
- slew
- spate
- stack
- store
- ton
- truckload
- volume
- wad
- wealth
- yard
Examples of chunk in a Sentence
Noun
She cut the fruit into large chunks.
She spends a good chunk of her day on the phone.
He devoted a large chunk of time to the project.
Recent Examples on the WebConor Knighton, CBS News, 21 Apr. 2024
Swift’s music was absent for a time, but a large chunk of it reappeared on the platform last week.
—Elias Leight, Billboard, 19 Apr. 2024
Look for options that contain probiotics, but are low in sugar (and don’t include chunks of fruit).
—Stephen C. George, Discover Magazine, 18 Apr. 2024
Lenders on the properties are receiving a big chunk of the proceeds from the property sales.
—George Avalos, The Mercury News, 18 Apr. 2024
Don’t think a good chunk of her 363 million followers would just let that one slide.
—Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 18 Apr. 2024
All the attention is taking a chunk from Boeing stock, which has tumbled in price by nearly one-third since the Alaska Airlines panel blowout.
—David Koenig, Quartz, 17 Apr. 2024
The rubble is being broken up into chunks small enough to be hauled off by dump trucks.
—Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post, 15 Apr. 2024
Cody Martin and Mark Williams also missed significant chunks of time.
—Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 13 Apr. 2024
Jack Bantock, CNN, 16 Mar. 2024
Tip the walnuts and bread chunks onto a baking tray and bake for 6-8 minutes until slightly golden.
—The Week Uk, theweek, 14 Jan. 2024
Picked off the bone and chunked into a bowl with the green beans and their rich broth, the meat is a reminder of the soft but important boundary between special and ordinary.
—Eric Kim, New York Times, 18 Oct. 2023
My preferred choice for best surf fishing rod for chunking is in St. Croix’s Avid series.
—Alberto Knie, Field & Stream, 22 June 2023
His hypothesis was that, given the rise of mobile video viewing, a sizable number of smartphone users would pay for a premium mobile TV service with content chunked into sub-10-minute episodes.
—Todd Spangler, Variety, 23 May 2023
And anyone who’s ever watched Fat Bear Week will certainly recognize celebears like super-mom Holly, who has regularly chunked up despite having cubs to feed too.
—Erin Berger, Outside Online, 2 Oct. 2019
Love you more than chunking express, or Denis Johnson’s already dead, or the stooges’ raw power.
—Alyssa Bailey, ELLE, 11 Apr. 2023
Love you more than chunking express, or Denis Johnson's already dead, or the stooges' raw power.
—Skyler Caruso, Peoplemag, 10 Apr. 2023
Noun
The crossing project, with structures at areas identified where animals are likely to cross, spans 15 miles of I-90 near the Snoqualmie Pass in Washington, flanked by large chunks of what's primarily national forest land – habitat for all sorts of creatures great and small.
—Conor Knighton, CBS News, 21 Apr. 2024
Swift’s music was absent for a time, but a large chunk of it reappeared on the platform last week.
—Elias Leight, Billboard, 19 Apr. 2024
Look for options that contain probiotics, but are low in sugar (and don’t include chunks of fruit).
—Stephen C. George, Discover Magazine, 18 Apr. 2024
Lenders on the properties are receiving a big chunk of the proceeds from the property sales.
—George Avalos, The Mercury News, 18 Apr. 2024
Don’t think a good chunk of her 363 million followers would just let that one slide.
—Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 18 Apr. 2024
All the attention is taking a chunk from Boeing stock, which has tumbled in price by nearly one-third since the Alaska Airlines panel blowout.
—David Koenig, Quartz, 17 Apr. 2024
The rubble is being broken up into chunks small enough to be hauled off by dump trucks.
—Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post, 15 Apr. 2024
Cody Martin and Mark Williams also missed significant chunks of time.
—Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 13 Apr. 2024
Verb
The American duo waged a pulsating third round battle at the PGA Tour’s flagship tournament on Saturday, and had looked on course to head into the final round level at the top before reigning US Open champion Clark chunked his first swing at the penultimate 123-yard par-three hole.
—Jack Bantock, CNN, 16 Mar. 2024
Tip the walnuts and bread chunks onto a baking tray and bake for 6-8 minutes until slightly golden.
—The Week Uk, theweek, 14 Jan. 2024
Picked off the bone and chunked into a bowl with the green beans and their rich broth, the meat is a reminder of the soft but important boundary between special and ordinary.
—Eric Kim, New York Times, 18 Oct. 2023
My preferred choice for best surf fishing rod for chunking is in St. Croix’s Avid series.
—Alberto Knie, Field & Stream, 22 June 2023
His hypothesis was that, given the rise of mobile video viewing, a sizable number of smartphone users would pay for a premium mobile TV service with content chunked into sub-10-minute episodes.
—Todd Spangler, Variety, 23 May 2023
And anyone who’s ever watched Fat Bear Week will certainly recognize celebears like super-mom Holly, who has regularly chunked up despite having cubs to feed too.
—Erin Berger, Outside Online, 2 Oct. 2019
Love you more than chunking express, or Denis Johnson’s already dead, or the stooges’ raw power.
—Alyssa Bailey, ELLE, 11 Apr. 2023
Love you more than chunking express, or Denis Johnson's already dead, or the stooges' raw power.
—Skyler Caruso, Peoplemag, 10 Apr. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chunk.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near chunk
Cite this Entry
“Chunk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chunk. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.
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