hunch

American  

[huhnch] / hʌntʃ /

verb (used with object)

• hunches,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hunched,
  past participle,  past
• hunching
  present participle

1. to thrust out or up in a hump; arch.

   to hunch one's back.

2. to shove, push, or jostle.

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verb (used without object)

• hunches,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hunched,
  past participle,  past
• hunching
  present participle

1. to thrust oneself forward jerkily; lunge forward.

2. to stand, sit, or walk in a bent posture.

noun

• hunches
  plural

1. a premonition or suspicion; guess.

   I have a hunch he'll run for reelection.

   Synonyms:

   conjecture, theory, feeling, surmise

2. a hump.

3. a push or shove.

4. a lump or thick piece.

hunch British  

/ hʌntʃ /

noun

1. an intuitive guess or feeling

2. another word for hump

3. a lump or large piece

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verb

1. to bend or draw (oneself or a part of the body) up or together

2. to sit in a hunched position

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hunches
  plural

Participles

• hunching
  present
• hunched
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• hunch
  simple
• hunches
  simple
• have hunched
  perfect
• has hunched
  perfect
• am hunching
  progressive
• are hunching
  progressive
• is hunching
  progressive
• have been hunching
  perfect progressive
• has been hunching
  perfect progressive

Past

• hunched
  simple
• had hunched
  perfect
• was hunching
  progressive
• were hunching
  progressive
• had been hunching
  perfect progressive

Future

• will hunch
  simple
• will have hunched
  perfect
• will be hunching
  progressive
• will have been hunching
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of hunch

1590–1600; 1900–05 hunch for def. 5; apparently variant of obsolete hinch to push, shove, kick < ?

Explanation

When you pose for pictures with short friends, you hunch over so you don't tower above them — you scrunch up your shoulders, bend your knees, and try to look smaller. You can also have a hunch, which has nothing to do with scrunching. When you have a hunch about something, you think it might be true. Your dog bolts over the fence, and you have a hunch he's heading for the neighbor who feeds him pâté. Hunch is an odd word of unknown origin, which seems to have originally meant "to push or shove" — to nudge.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hunch hunches hunched hunching

“You have a formless hunch, and you move toward it. It’s a mystery, really, why we’re attracted to certain subjects.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

In another group, the tablet lay flat on a desk set at a lower height, which encouraged participants to lean forward and hunch over.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026

As a result, "my hunch is that we will see more successful employee ownership conversions in the next few years."

From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026

The figures here all look a little awkward, with a slight hunch in their backless chair and their shoulders set at a forced angle.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

Carmen paced around the room, reading while I dug through a hunch of Abuela’s old photographs.

From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya

But most are not well versed in sifting through medical research, and separating high-quality evidence from anecdotes and hunches.

From Slate ● Apr. 16, 2026

Much of the panic driving recent selloffs has been based on futuristic hunches or kneejerk assessments of the impact of new AI tools.

From Barron's ● Feb. 26, 2026

“The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White hunches into leather jackets and flannels, dark curls coquettishly kissing his brow, in order to embody Springsteen on screen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2025

At the same time, the feats of Mr. Goddio and company—accomplished through a combination of mathematics, historical hunches and old-fashioned deep-sea diving—will keep a viewer afloat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2025

Her good shoulder hunches over, she lets out a deep quiet breath, and before long, she starts humming.

From "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi

Instead, he was hunched over in a single foldout plastic chair in an otherwise empty room, looking spent.

From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026

They sat hunched inside the glass courtroom cage for most of the hearings, backs to the line of TV cameras.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Once again, Walker Kessler sat hunched forward, ears and eyes intently locked onto the person whose words would change his life.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026

“Those last scenes with me looking like a lonely old lady walking hunched over in the garden? Boy, I told him to get rid of those,” she said, referring to the documentary’s director, R.J.

From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2026

He stayed hunched against the wall and spoke in a muffled voice.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

My adult physical life has been a mixed bag of hyper-athletic hot yoga, long country runs and hunching over my computer for days on end.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

A heating pad pressed on a particularly tight area of your lower back can help it feel looser after a long day of lifting boxes or hunching at your computer.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2024

And I’m tired of hunching down in front of him and walking backward, offering up bits of kibble to tempt him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2024

“Untitled” opens with Joseph Sissons moving center stage, legs unfurling to the sky, torso hunching forward, body propelling into the air before coming to a dead stop.

From New York Times ● Jun. 11, 2023

Calluses formed on my fingertips, my eye grew skilled at selecting friendlier fabrics to piece into the same block, and my neck is now accustomed to hunching over my work.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Related Words

• inkling
• instinct
• intuition
• premonition