crunch

1 of 2

verb

crunched; crunching; crunches

intransitive verb

1
: to chew or press with a crushing noise
2
: to make one's way with a crushing noise

transitive verb

1
: to chew, press, or grind with a crunching sound
2
: process
especially : to perform mathematical computations on
crunch numbers
crunchable adjective

crunch

2 of 2

noun

plural crunches
1
a
: an act of crunching
ate the cracker in one crunch
b
: a sound made by crunching
The only sound was the crunch of leaves underfoot.
There was a rather loud crunch as I bit into the battered dumplings.Fraser Glen
c
: the quality of being crunchy : the tendency to make a crunching sound when chewed or pressed
… make sure you have protein, a carbohydrate and a vegetable. You have to have crunch, flavour, salty and sweet in one.Carla Grossetti
Texture is king in this salad, … with added crunch from toasted walnuts.Eleanor Maidment
2
: a tight or critical situation: such as
a
: a severe economic squeeze (as on credit)
b
: shortage
an energy crunch
a time crunch
c
: a critical point in the buildup of pressure between opposing elements : showdown
… the odd loss at Bankwest, combined with winning virtually nothing on the road, is going to come back to haunt them when the season reaches the crunch.Scott Pryde
3
: a conditioning exercise performed from a supine position by raising and lowering the upper torso without reaching a sitting position

Examples of crunch in a Sentence

Verb We could hear the truck's tires crunching along the gravel road. When she crunched the numbers, she found that the business's profits were actually much lower than the company had said. Noun the crunch of someone eating a carrot We could hear the crunch of the truck's tires on the gravel road. The crunch came when the computer stopped working.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
In its place were vast salt flats that shone in the sun and crunched underfoot. Reis Thebault, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2024 Becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Florida isn’t just about crunching numbers. Bryce Welker, Miami Herald, 21 Feb. 2024 San Diego Gas & Electric on Wednesday said staff crunched the numbers and found that the peak of the outages occurred Monday between noon and 12:30 p.m., when 25,115 customers across the county were without power. Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Jan. 2024 The good news: What’s important isn’t knowing how to crunch the numbers but asking the right questions and having the right team to deliver answers. Ryan Wong, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024 Seconds later, the lander’s six feet crunched into the dark soil of Malapert A, a crater nestled deep in the moon’s southern latitudes. Michael Greshko, Scientific American, 23 Feb. 2024 Many researchers crunching the numbers have found there’s no connection between immigration and crime. Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN, 15 Feb. 2024 The grid operator won’t come out with its annual summer assessment until May, after crunching data compiled by the California Department of Water Resources. Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Feb. 2024 At the heart of this transformation is machine learning (ML), a powerful tool that enables crunching vast data sets to detect and establish meaningful patterns. Richard Torrenzano, Fortune, 31 Jan. 2024
Noun
Top with slaw or pickles for more flavor and crunch. Robert F. Moss, Southern Living, 15 Mar. 2024 And this has nothing to do with Brandon Aiyuk’s contract or a salary cap crunch. Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 14 Mar. 2024 The spicy Korean chicken wings were double-fried for extra crunch, drizzled with a sweet-spicy Gojuchang sauce and topped with green onions and sesame seeds. Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Mar. 2024 Anticipating exactly this potential time crunch, Smith asked the Supreme Court to leapfrog an appeals court and take the case on Dec. 12, 2023. Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY, 8 Mar. 2024 Vietnam’s long associations with foreign entities allow for such fancies as pâté chaud, flaky puff pastry filled with a meaty interior of ground pork, foie gras, chicken pâté and diced jicama for some crunch. Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2024 This biz brainstorms fanciful flavors—such as vanilla bean ice cream perfumed with a hint of jasmine and lychee jellies; mellow jackfruit cream with lightly roasted chili cashew nuts; and mango ice cream with peach-mango fruit swirls and pie crust crunch. Laura Manske, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 Typically eaten for breakfast (Saigon Oi opens at 9 a.m. daily), it’s served with an airy baguette that delivers an ASMR-worthy crunch with a gentle squeeze. Benjy Egel, Sacramento Bee, 29 Feb. 2024 There’s been a lot of discussions lately about the VFX industry in Hollywood, in terms of the amount of work that you are asked to do and the time crunch that some studios expect. Richard Newby, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'crunch.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

alteration of craunch

First Known Use

Verb

1706, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun

1832, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of crunch was in 1706

Dictionary Entries Near crunch

Cite this Entry

“Crunch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crunch. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

crunch

1 of 2 verb
1
: to chew, press, or grind with a crushing noise
2
: to move with a crushing sound

crunch

2 of 2 noun
1
: an act or sound of crunching
2
: crisis sense 3
the energy crunch
3
: an exercise done by lying on the back and rising up without reaching a sitting position by bending forward at the waist

More from Merriam-Webster on crunch

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