as in scraping
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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Recent Examples of crunching
After crunching the numbers, Hawaii tops WalletHub's annual ranking of the happiest states in the country.
—
Katie Nadworny, Travel + Leisure, 30 Oct. 2025
The machines will run complex experiments that require an immense amount of data-crunching capacity, tackling problems ranging from nuclear power to cancer treatments, officials said Monday.
—Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 30 Oct. 2025
Coaches and statisticians are crunching the HSratings numbers on a weekly basis to make projections.
—Dan Albano, Oc Register, 27 Oct. 2025
The noise of crunching history is audible from the other side of 7-foot construction fencing.
—Philip Elliott, Time, 23 Oct. 2025
After crunching the numbers to exclude armies of data-scraping AI bots, the Wikimedia Foundation says that between March and August this year, the number of Wikipedia page views coming from real humans declined by 8% year-on-year.
—PC Magazine, 18 Oct. 2025
Turns out his co-workers were more focused on crunching numbers than spinning tracks.
—Jessica Coacci, Fortune, 18 Oct. 2025
The ignitor came in the form of fellow defenseman Jake Middleton delivering a bone-crunching hit – legally – to Stars forward Matt Duchene in the neutral zone.
—Jess Myers, Twin Cities, 15 Oct. 2025
Then—for an incredible 23 minutes—the bat’s echolocation squeaks were punctuated by chewing and crunching, even as the animal kept flying.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 9 Oct. 2025
Katie Nadworny, Travel + Leisure, 30 Oct. 2025
The machines will run complex experiments that require an immense amount of data-crunching capacity, tackling problems ranging from nuclear power to cancer treatments, officials said Monday.
—Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 30 Oct. 2025
Coaches and statisticians are crunching the HSratings numbers on a weekly basis to make projections.
—Dan Albano, Oc Register, 27 Oct. 2025
The noise of crunching history is audible from the other side of 7-foot construction fencing.
—Philip Elliott, Time, 23 Oct. 2025
After crunching the numbers to exclude armies of data-scraping AI bots, the Wikimedia Foundation says that between March and August this year, the number of Wikipedia page views coming from real humans declined by 8% year-on-year.
—PC Magazine, 18 Oct. 2025
Turns out his co-workers were more focused on crunching numbers than spinning tracks.
—Jessica Coacci, Fortune, 18 Oct. 2025
The ignitor came in the form of fellow defenseman Jake Middleton delivering a bone-crunching hit – legally – to Stars forward Matt Duchene in the neutral zone.
—Jess Myers, Twin Cities, 15 Oct. 2025
Then—for an incredible 23 minutes—the bat’s echolocation squeaks were punctuated by chewing and crunching, even as the animal kept flying.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 9 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for crunching
Verb
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Stir in a splash of sherry vinegar, cook for another minute, then slowly stir in chicken broth, scraping up any pan drippings that have gathered along the surface of the skillet.—
Karla Walsh,
Better Homes & Gardens,
1 Nov. 2025
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Two childhood friends now must face off from opposite sides – Sam, the daughter of a poor single mother scraping toward a better life in Grand Central, and Ari, a Lumines prodigy.—
Clare Mulroy,
USA Today,
31 Oct. 2025
Verb
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And that’s just scratching the surface.—
Clare Mulroy,
USA Today,
28 Oct. 2025
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The Jonas Brothers’ performance at the 2025 World Series left some viewers scratching their heads.—
Mitchell Peters,
Billboard,
26 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Crunching.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/crunching. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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