1
as in shortage
a falling short of an essential or desirable amount or number
a severe energy crunch that resulted in long lines at the gas pumps
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in crisis
a time or state of affairs requiring prompt or decisive action
a player who's always good in a crunch, like when we need a goal to win the soccer match
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of crunch
Brock Keeling, Oc Register, 3 June 2026
That remains the case, Yosif said, noting that the US tapping into its strategic reserves has helped to blunt the effect of war’s oil supply crunch.
—Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 2 June 2026
Andrew Rice, New York Times, 1 June 2026
Delivering the petaflops of processing power required to run massive local AI models, the RTX Spark is built to crunch through heavy workloads that are simply too demanding for traditional PCs paired with standard discrete GPUs.
—Brian Westover, PC Magazine, 1 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for crunch
Noun
The bakery’s classic vanilla cupcakes have long been topped with teensy, spherical sprinkles that give Dot Cakes their signature crunch.
—Brock Keeling, Oc Register, 3 June 2026
That remains the case, Yosif said, noting that the US tapping into its strategic reserves has helped to blunt the effect of war’s oil supply crunch.
—Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 2 June 2026
Verb
Aussies defy their bad fortune A carbon-crunching, three-way crash on the start line of the final fleet race will dominate people’s memories of a mad Sunday, making Australia’s victory of resilience somewhat of a footnote at the end of a wacky weekend.
—Andrew Rice, New York Times, 1 June 2026
Delivering the petaflops of processing power required to run massive local AI models, the RTX Spark is built to crunch through heavy workloads that are simply too demanding for traditional PCs paired with standard discrete GPUs.
—Brian Westover, PC Magazine, 1 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for crunch
Recent Examples of Synonyms for crunch
Noun
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Tony & Tara Eiguren The great potato capital has no shortage of great Basque food either, thanks to a hearty diaspora and community members like Tony and Tara Eiguren.—
Arati Menon,
Condé Nast Traveler,
7 June 2026
-
Beyond the direct threat posed by drones, Russians are facing growing fuel shortages as Ukraine’s strikes on oil refineries limit supply.—
Zahra Ullah,
CNN Money,
7 June 2026
Noun
-
Alas, as the current crisis confirms, such mere facts do not persuade those leading the anti-vaccine crusade that threatens both existing protections and the hope of creating new ones.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2026
-
Haiti is one of the world’s poorest countries, in the grip of a political and humanitarian crisis.—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
11 June 2026
Verb
-
Both of these teams are elite and gritted through losses in the College World Series to get to these finals.—
Chris Branch,
New York Times,
3 June 2026
-
Govel even gritted through a nasty stinger on a comebacker in the bottom of the fourth.—
Jack Vita,
Chicago Tribune,
24 May 2026
Noun
-
Silva said the single most alarming aspect of the report was the lack of information available to emergency responders.—
Ivan Taylor,
CBS News,
11 June 2026
-
The Mexican team’s lack of elite club experience, however, is obvious and could be a problem.—
Eduard Cauich,
Los Angeles Times,
11 June 2026
Noun
-
From the Neolithic rock art of what is now Libya to ancient Egypt, China and India, to medieval and Renaissance Europe, creatures at borderlands of what was taken to be civilization were represented as cynocephalic, that is, humans with dog heads.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 June 2026
-
In the gallery, Austin's brother, Hunter Metcalf, lowered his head into his hands, visibly shaken.—
Doug Myers,
CBS News,
10 June 2026
Verb
-
Blend until completely smooth and creamy, scraping down sides as needed.—
Judy Bart Kancigor,
Oc Register,
11 June 2026
-
The valuable elements instantly gather onto a collection surface, allowing researchers to scrape them off.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
11 June 2026
Verb
-
One of those 17 was a bullpen game — with Ober’s injury, the Twins currently have four starters on the roster — and in one game, the Twins had to press Woods Richardson into duty after scratching Rojas an hour before the game.—
Betsy Helfand,
Twin Cities,
7 June 2026
-
Soler was scratched before Friday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers because of hip tightness.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
6 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Crunch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/crunch. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.
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