chunk

noun \ ˈchəŋk \

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

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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

DALLAS (AP) — Hurricane Harvey is sending pump prices higher for U.S. motorists and causing temporary shifts in the flow of oil and gasoline around the world after taking down a huge chunk of U.S. refining capacity.

— david koenig, The Seattle Times, "Harvey knocks out more refineries, shifting global oil flows," 30 Aug. 2017
In late May, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Mr. Reed and Elise Stefanik, a second-termer whose district includes a huge chunk of the state’s northern regions, to its list of targets for the 2018 election.

— jesse mckinley, New York Times, "Take 6 Congressional Races. Add Gov. Cuomo. Stir the Pot.," 29 Aug. 2017
A post shared by Andi Bartz (@andibartz) on Jun 28, 2017 at 4:22am PDT My eyes light up at sparkly chunks of raw crystals, and patiently the owners tell me about the purported healing energies of tiger's eye, rose quartz, and agate.

— andrea bartz, Redbook, "Why I Stopped Waiting for a Partner & Started Traveling the World," 10 Aug. 2017
One thing that makes the area special is the subsoil’s high proportion of limestone, great chunks of which are piled up along Vineyard Road, where some of the top wineries are located.

— jay mcinerney, Town & Country, "Two Brothers Lead California's Next Great Wine Experiment," 25 July 2017
Before major chunks of land were deeded over, however, the new university’s identity, its academic DNA, had to be hashed out.

— logan jenkins, sandiegouniontribune.com, "For San Diego, UC star power was grounded in land," 20 July 2017
Hayek blended a Papaya Avocado smoothie using one of the very high-powered blenders sitting in front of her, dumping in precut frozen chunks of papaya and avocado with almond milk.

— kathleen hou, The Cut, "If Salma Hayek Tells You to Put a Smoothie on Your Face, Do It," 18 July 2017
Ileana Sánchez, Cienfuegos Most Cuban workers can’t live off their state salaries, where the government controls the biggest chunk of the economy.

— mario j. pentón & luz escobar, miamiherald, "Cuba’s median salary is higher but life remains difficult for workers with no other income," 17 July 2017
Chunks of the Marco Polo condominiums fall more than 20 stories as the fire burned through several floors.

— avi selk, Washington Post, "Three killed in Honolulu skyscraper after tower with no sprinklers catches fire," 15 July 2017

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.