big crunch

American  

[big kruhnch] / ˈbɪg ˈkrʌntʃ /

noun

big crunches plural

1. Astronomy. Also, Big Crunch. a hypothetical event in which gravitational attraction causes the universe to contract until it eventually collapses to a singularity or black hole.

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big crunch Scientific  

1. The convergence of all matter, energy, and space into a single, minute point. This convergence is hypothesized to be the final event in the universe in some cosmological theories.

2. Compare big bang See also closed universe

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• big crunches
  plural

Example Sentences

"This big crunch defines the end of the universe," Tye wrote.

From Science Daily • Feb. 16, 2026

Will it continue expanding forever, or be pulled into reverse, ending in a big crunch?

From Science Magazine • Jan. 13, 2022

"They start with all-white meat chicken, and get their big crunch from a combo of the wheat crackers and walnuts that make up our ghostly delicious coating," said Cain.

From Fox News • Oct. 23, 2021

With the discovery of dark energy, however, it does not appear that the universe will experience a big crunch, so we can put worrying about it on the back burner.

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016

The deflation would get faster and faster, the universe would get hotter and hotter, and it would eventually end in a backward big bang: the big crunch.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife