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. FosterExamples 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 Web
Anne Marie D. Lee, CBS News, 1 July 2025
Unlike other characters that need to jump on enemies to defeat them, DK can throw an endless stream of haymaker punches in all directions and can even rip chunks of rock and the ground itself out to throw with precision.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 1 July 2025
Jennifer Jay Palumbo, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2025
To do that effectively at scale, your pipeline must handle four key tasks:
• Continuously ingest and chunk new content (e.g., documents, files, user data).
—Junyu Huang, Forbes.com, 12 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for chunk
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Noun
Spending large chunks of time sitting on a train or stuck in traffic is not conducive to good work-life balance.
—Anne Marie D. Lee, CBS News, 1 July 2025
Unlike other characters that need to jump on enemies to defeat them, DK can throw an endless stream of haymaker punches in all directions and can even rip chunks of rock and the ground itself out to throw with precision.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 1 July 2025
Verb
Astle emphasizes the importance of using digital tools like graphic organizers, chunking information, and providing visual aids alongside text.
—Jennifer Jay Palumbo, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2025
To do that effectively at scale, your pipeline must handle four key tasks:
• Continuously ingest and chunk new content (e.g., documents, files, user data).
—Junyu Huang, Forbes.com, 12 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for chunk
Cite this Entry
“Chunk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chunk. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.
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