chunk

noun \ ˈchəŋk \

|Updated on: 21 Jul 2018

Examples: chunk in a Sentence

Definition of chunk

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

A 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

See chunk defined for English-language learners

See chunk defined for kids

Examples of chunk in a Sentence

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 of chunk from the Web

Don’t forget that Mars is still retrograde until August 27, so take action in bite-sized chunks.

— jodie layne, Teen Vogue, "Lunar Eclipse 2018: What You Need to Know," 3 July 2018
Blevins would pitch an inning or two and the rest of the bullpen would follow in similar bite-size chunks, depending on how the game progressed.

— david waldstein, New York Times, "Mets Start a Reliever and Dodgers Have a Blast, Hitting Seven Homers," 24 June 2018
University of Hawaii geology professor Michael Garcia shows a piece of olivine embedded in a chunk of lava from a prehistoric eruption of Kilauea volcano in his office in Honolulu on Tuesday, June 19, 2018.

— Washington Post, "NOT REAL NEWS: Erupting Hawaii volcano not raining gemstones," 19 June 2018
The complaint says the company was used to con $803,000 from three different companies, then used to wire money in six and five-digit chunks to Warszawa, Poland; Shenzhen, China; and Hong Kong.

— david j. neal, miamiherald, "The 21-year-old's company had $1.6 million after 23 days. She'll be sentenced in July," 13 June 2018
Case in point: this viral video of a woman’s hair appearing to fall out in chunks while getting a relaxer on the street.

— shammara lawrence, Allure, "A Viral Video of Woman's Hair Falling Out Has the Internet Shook," 6 June 2018
The Oregon National Guard is also distributing water in five gallon chunks to anyone who visits one of their distribution sites.

— molly harbarger, OregonLive.com, "Salem water advisory causes questions, we answer them: 13 things to know," 1 June 2018
Oh, and researchers at Columbia University have developed a new way to hide secret messages in chunks of text by imperceptibly altering heights, widths, and curvatures of individual letters.

— lily hay newman, WIRED, "Security News This Week: T-Mobile Web Portal Exposed 74 Million Accounts," 26 May 2018
Caldart said most lawyers who choose to do pro bono work for a clinic want to provide help in short chunks of time, without establishing ongoing attorney-client relationships.

— bruce vielmetti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Poor? Need legal aid? Tiny part of landlord law could make lawyers wary of helping out," 25 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'chunk.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of chunk

perhaps alteration of chuck short piece of wood

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1691

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

chunk Synonyms

Phrases

all kinds (of), quite a bit;

chunk

verb

Definition of chunk

chunked; chunking; chunks

intransitive verb

: to make a dull plunging or explosive sound

the rhythmic chunking of thrown quoits
—John Updike

transitive verb

1 : 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