hunch
Americanverb (used with object)
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to thrust out or up in a hump; arch.
to hunch one's back.
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to shove, push, or jostle.
verb (used without object)
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to thrust oneself forward jerkily; lunge forward.
-
to stand, sit, or walk in a bent posture.
noun
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a premonition or suspicion; guess.
I have a hunch he'll run for reelection.
- Synonyms:
- conjecture, theory, feeling, surmise
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a hump.
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a push or shove.
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a lump or thick piece.
noun
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an intuitive guess or feeling
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another word for hump
-
a lump or large piece
verb
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to bend or draw (oneself or a part of the body) up or together
-
to sit in a hunched position
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have hunchedperfect
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has hunchedperfect 3rd person singular
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are hunchingprogressive
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has been hunchingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is hunchingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am hunchingprogressive 1st person singular
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have been hunchingperfect progressive
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hunchessingular 3rd person
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hunchingparticiple
Past
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had hunchedperfect
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were hunchingprogressive plural
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was hunchingprogressive singular
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had been hunchingperfect progressive
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hunchedsimple
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hunchedparticiple
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing hunch
Mockingbird
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Because of Winn-Dixie
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"A Village After Dark" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hunch here is, some USC athletes will be seeing bigger checks very, very soon.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 21, 2024
For the next three days, it turned on the heat a little too early, and I had to go into the thermostat settings in the app to tell Alexa its Hunch was wrong.
From The Verge • Nov. 19, 2021
“I think, in general, our guys believe they should win today,” Hunch said.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 3, 2021
Notable not only for his efforts to defeat Lord Voldemort, but also for his unflinching defense of his employees, even at his own personal expense Caterina Fake Co-founder, flickr and Hunch.
From Inc • Mar. 22, 2013
"They might 'Signor' Hunch Blair all they'd a mind ter, he'd stop the biggest show on earth ter shake han's with Lizzī's brothers," the dwarf muttered.
From Belford's Magazine, Vol 2, December 1888 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
