Crunch
/kɹʌnt͡ʃ/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo crush something, especially food, with a noisy crackling sound.
verbTo be crushed with a noisy crackling sound.
Sentence Examples
I crunch through the snow.
The recession has put the crunch on wage laborers.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After stepping on the dry leaves, I heard a loud ____ under my foot.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I ____ through the snow.
Word Origin & History
From earlier craunch, cranch, of imitative origin.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And their white tusks crunch'd o'er the whiter skull,"
— 1816, Lord Byron, The Siege of Corinth:
"The sound of our vessel crunching her way through the new ice is not easy to be described."
— 1854, E.K. Kane, “The United States Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin: a personal Narrative”, in The Living Age, page 517:
"The departure was not unduly prolonged.[…]Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity."
— 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
"There were sounds in the air above his head – sounds of the crunching and rattling of the loose, smooth stones as his neighbors moved about[…]"
— 1849, Henry James, Confidence:
"PackIt will not crunch executables, unless told to do so."
— 1993, Michael Barsoom, “[comp.sys.amiga.announce] PackIt Announcement”, in comp.archives (Usenet):
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After stepping on the dry leaves, I heard a loud ____ under my foot.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I ____ through the snow.