crunch

KRUNCH/kɹʌnt͡ʃ/

18 meanings of crunch

1
verbtransitive
To crush food or another hard thing, making a loud cracking sound.
Like biting down hard on a crisp apple.
The dog likes to crunch its dry food.
She crunched the ice cubes between her teeth.
Similarmunch, chomp, crush, scrunch
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2
nouncountable
A loud cracking or breaking sound.
Like the sound of stepping on dry leaves.
We heard a loud crunch when the branch broke.
The crunch of gravel told us a car was coming.
Similarcrackle, scrunch, crack
3
verbintransitive
To make a grinding or cracking noise.
Like the sound your shoes make on dry leaves.
The gravel crunched under our feet.
Fresh snow will crunch when you walk on it.
Similarscrunch, crackle, grind, creak
4
verbintransitive
To get crushed while making a loud cracking sound.
Like a cracker breaking into pieces when you squeeze it.
The dry leaves crunch easily when you step on them.
The shell crunched under the heavy boot.
Similarcrackle, scrunch, crack
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5
noun
A very important moment when something must be decided.
Like the final minute of a close game, when everything matters.
When the crunch came, she stayed calm and made the call.
The team always plays better when the crunch arrives.
Similarcrisis, showdown, clutch
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6
nounslangcountable
A time when there is not enough of something, like money or fuel.
Like running low on snacks before everyone has eaten.
The cash crunch forced the store to close early.
A fuel crunch left many drivers waiting in long lines.
Similarshortage, squeeze, scarcity, pinch
Oppositeglut, surplus, abundance
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7
verbslangtransitive
To work out a lot of numbers or data, usually with a computer.
Like solving a big pile of math problems one after another.
The accountant will crunch the figures before lunch.
We crunched the data overnight to find the answer.
Similarprocess, analyze, compute, calculate
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8
nouncountable
An exercise for your stomach muscles, done by lifting your head and shoulders off the floor.
Like a small sit-up where your back stays down.
She does a crunch slowly to protect her neck.
Add a few crunches to your morning routine.
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9
verbtransitive
To grind or press something hard, with force and noise.
Like a strong machine smashing cans into a small lump.
The machine crunched the old cars into flat metal blocks.
Heavy tires crunch the gravel as trucks enter the yard.
Similargrind, crush, pulverize, compact
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10
nouncountable
A serious problem that builds up until it turns into a crisis.
Like a small leak that slowly floods the whole boat.
The factory hit a serious crunch when its main supplier shut down.
Rising costs created a budget crunch that forced layoffs.
Similarsqueeze, pinch, bind, crisis, jam
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11
nouncountable or uncountable
A baked dessert with fruit on the bottom and a crisp, crunchy layer on top.
Like a fruit pie, but with a crispy, crumbly top instead of pastry.
My grandma makes a peach crunch every summer.
The crunch had sweet berries hidden under a crispy top.
Similarcrumble, crisp
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12
nouncountable
Small crunchy or crumbly bits of food, often made by crushing something.
She sprinkled chocolate crunches over the bowl of ice cream.
Each crunch in the topping added a nutty bite.
Similarcluster, bit, piece, crumb
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13
verbtransitive
To make a car's gears grind noisily by letting the clutch out too soon.
Like forcing two spinning wheels to lock together before they match speed.
He crunched the gears every time he tried to shift uphill.
Try not to crunch the gears when you start moving.
Similargrind, clash
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14
verbtransitive
To squeeze computer data into a smaller size so it can be opened again later.
Like squeezing a big sponge down small so it fits in a tiny box.
The program will crunch the files before sending them.
She crunched the photos to fit on the small disk.
Similarcompress, pack, squeeze, zip
Oppositedecompress, decrunch, unpack, unzip
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15
nounslangcountable
The extra hours of work needed near the end of a project to finish it on time.
Like staying up late to finish all your homework the night before it is due.
The studio went into crunch to ship the game by Christmas.
Everyone was tired after months of crunch before launch.
Similarpush, sprint, rush
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16
verbslangtransitive
To make workers put in extra hours so a project gets finished on time.
Like a coach making the whole team practice late to get ready for the big game.
The company crunched its staff to finish before the holidays.
Managers often crunch their teams in the last month of a project.
Similaroverwork, drive, push
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17
noununcountable
A medium amount of fuzzy, rough sound added to a guitar or amp.
Like the rough, fuzzy sound a speaker makes when you turn it up too loud.
He dialed in some crunch for the rock song.
The amp gave the chords a nice crunch.
Similargrit, drive, dirt
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18
nounUScountable
The # symbol, found on a phone keypad or keyboard.
After you type your PIN, press the crunch, the key just to the right of the zero.
She wrote a crunch before each number on her list, so it read #1, #2, #3.
Similarhash, pound, octothorpe

Practice

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Origin

It comes from an older word 'craunch,' made to imitate the sound.