chunk

1 of 2

noun

ˈchəŋk 

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

chunk

2 of 2

verb

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

Synonyms of chunk

Noun

• ton
• loads
• plenty
• dozen
• pile
• bunch
• deal
• slew
• quantity
• lot
• wealth
• bundle
• stack
• raft

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 Web

Noun

The space rock likely represents a chunk that broke off of a much larger asteroid sometime between 2 billion and 700 million years ago. —Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 27 Nov. 2025

Helsley combusted during his time with the Mets this past summer, but a good chunk of that failure could be chalked up to pitch tipping. —Zach Pressnell, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Nov. 2025

Verb

Haltom had its best drive of the game to start the third quarter, chunking off big plays in both the run and pass after settling for shorter gains earlier. —Jordan Neal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 1 Nov. 2025

The Irish had chunk plays in both the run and pass games. —Matt Hayes, USA TODAY, 3 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

perhaps alteration of chuck short piece of wood

Verb

imitative

First Known Use

Noun

1691, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1890, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Phrases Containing chunk

• chunk of change

Rhymes for chunk

• bunk
• clunk
• drunk
• dunk
• hunk
• junk
• punk
• shrunk
• slunk
• spunk
• sunk
• trunk

Kids Definition

chunk

noun

ˈchəŋk

1

: a short thick piece or lump

2

: a large amount or part

a chunk of money