crunch
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To crush something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kruhnchIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɹʌntʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To crush something, especially food, with a noisy crackling sound.
To emit a grinding or crunching noise.
Press or grind with a crushing noise
To grind or press with violence and noise.
noun
A noisy crackling sound; the sound usually associated with crunching.
“He heard the crunch of footsteps on the gravel path.”
A critical moment or event.
A problem that leads to a crisis.
chiefly us
The symbol #.
A dessert consisting of a crunchy topping with fruit underneath.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To crush something, especially food, with a noisy crackling sound.
Used this way, crunch is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- scrunch , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use crunch
- “His shoes were crunching on the gravel.”verb
- “The children crunched the celery sticks.”verb
- “He heard the crunch of footsteps on the gravel path.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Someone able to perform complex and lengthy calculations.
Performing complex and lengthy numerical calculations.
An exercise designed to strengthen the abdominal muscles.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Keep learning “crunch” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.
- Practice sentence writingWrite sentences with vocabulary and get instant feedback.
- Practice in contextAnswer short vocabulary questions drawn from real situations.
- Review vocabularyTest your recall and strengthen words over time.
- Practice typingType vocabulary in short rounds that draw from words you've learned and saved.
Want to type words like this one without looking at the keyboard? Each typing round draws from words you've learned, saved or need to review. Follow the free Learn to Type lessons and type your own vocabulary with confidence.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.