as in scraped
to press or strike against or together so as to make a scraping sound
I could hear the bicycle gears crunch as I shifted the derailleur
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of crunched
Our data pal Rahul Deshpande (a Tech grad, obviously) crunched some numbers … and there are a lot of minutes going out the window.
—
Tyler Estep, AJC.com, 8 Apr. 2026
On break point, Sabalenka crunched a backhand winner.
—CBS News, 29 Mar. 2026
Even with a resolution to the war, corporate margins could be crunched, or prices passed through, resulting in a rebound in inflation, neither of which is good for stocks.
—Zev Fima, CNBC, 25 Mar. 2026
Disney’s fiscal year ends in the fall, but THR crunched the numbers for calendar year 2025 to use figures for the same period as the company’s peers.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 17 Mar. 2026
Like the hoods of two cars in a traffic accident, the continents crunched together, simultaneously shortening and flexing.
—Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 6 Mar. 2026
When the numbers were crunched, Bogotá, Colombia, took the crown as the most authentic city in the world.
—Lydia Price, Travel + Leisure, 20 Feb. 2026
To put this spending into perspective, Jefferies analysts crunched the numbers on flight costs.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 18 Feb. 2026
Kim’s beautiful mah-jong set was the focal point of the room, but everyone was a little too tired and time-crunched amid a hectic fashion week to play a round of the game.
—Erin Vanderhoof, Vanity Fair, 12 Feb. 2026
Tyler Estep, AJC.com, 8 Apr. 2026
On break point, Sabalenka crunched a backhand winner.
—CBS News, 29 Mar. 2026
Even with a resolution to the war, corporate margins could be crunched, or prices passed through, resulting in a rebound in inflation, neither of which is good for stocks.
—Zev Fima, CNBC, 25 Mar. 2026
Disney’s fiscal year ends in the fall, but THR crunched the numbers for calendar year 2025 to use figures for the same period as the company’s peers.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 17 Mar. 2026
Like the hoods of two cars in a traffic accident, the continents crunched together, simultaneously shortening and flexing.
—Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 6 Mar. 2026
When the numbers were crunched, Bogotá, Colombia, took the crown as the most authentic city in the world.
—Lydia Price, Travel + Leisure, 20 Feb. 2026
To put this spending into perspective, Jefferies analysts crunched the numbers on flight costs.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 18 Feb. 2026
Kim’s beautiful mah-jong set was the focal point of the room, but everyone was a little too tired and time-crunched amid a hectic fashion week to play a round of the game.
—Erin Vanderhoof, Vanity Fair, 12 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for crunched
Verb
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Bird poop scraped off a man’s car appeared on a drug test as cocaine.—
Holly Yan,
CNN Money,
5 Apr. 2026
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The next day, the eggs bonded tightly to the metal and could be neither folded nor rolled nor, indeed, actually extracted from the pan or even scraped from it.—
Jeffrey Steingarten,
Vogue,
5 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But the Olympic debutant gritted her teeth and tried to forget about her throbbing, bruised knee.—
Charlotte Harpur,
New York Times,
13 Feb. 2026
-
The 6-foot-6, 260-pound Westlake graduate missed just one game earlier this season but gritted his way through an undisclosed injury.—
Thomas Jones,
Austin American Statesman,
12 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Crunched.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/crunched. Accessed 12 Apr. 2026.
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