chomp
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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chomps,
present (3rd person singular)
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chomped,
past participle, past
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chomping
present participle
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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chompsimple
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chompssimple
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have chompedperfect
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has chompedperfect
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am chompingprogressive
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are chompingprogressive
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is chompingprogressive
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have been chompingperfect progressive
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has been chompingperfect progressive
Past
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chompedsimple
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had chompedperfect
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was chompingprogressive
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were chompingprogressive
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had been chompingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of chomp
variant of champ 1
Explanation
To chomp is to bite something in a greedy, noisy way. If you've got five minutes to eat breakfast, you might quickly chomp your bagel as you walk to catch the bus. People who chomp their food are either extremely hungry or somewhat ill-mannered: watching someone chomp a hamburger and fries can make you lose your appetite. You can also use chomp as a noun, to mean "a great big bite," as when your brother grabs your slice of pizza and takes a chomp. The word has been used in American English since the mid-1600s, from the earlier verb champ.
Vocabulary lists containing chomp
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.
See Examples For:
Australia's oceans are teeming with sharks, with great whites topping the list of species that might fatally chomp a human.
From Barron's ● Nov. 26, 2025
A single breeding pair of sunflower stars can potentially produce thousands of offspring — many mouths to chomp down on urchins.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025
What does the bubble gum they chomp during “Too Pooped to Pop” give them?
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024
Each year, fans pick their favourite of 12 plump brown bears from Alaska's Katmai National Park that have gathered along the Brooks River to chomp on salmon and pack on as many pounds before winter.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2023
Then sure as Christmas you forget the silly thing and chomp right down on it.
From "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson
Then he flops down and chomps on a stuffed Chewy Vuiton Paris bone toy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2025
Tampopo grows its arugula under insect netting to fight the Northwest flea beetle that otherwise chomps on the leaves.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 23, 2024
“Shut up!” the queen barks at Kate, and proceeds to grill her while a menacing, Cockney-bruiser Philip chomps on a toothpick and plays with the future princess’s hair.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 20, 2022
We meet up once a month to grab food at a market and then shop, and while eating, she slurps, chomps, smacks, burps, makes “mmm” and “nom” sounds, and talks with her mouth full.
From Slate ● Feb. 19, 2019
Since then, he occasionally sidles up to me for a lunch-line chat while he chomps on a basket of cafeteria fries.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
At one point father and baby ate grass together, the big grass fronds flickering around their heads as they chomped.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
“There’s really only one reason for it to be dead,” Roberts noted, and that is “because something chomped it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2024
The young meat-eater had chomped off the hind legs of two parrot-like dinosaurs called caenagnathids before perishing itself.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 8, 2023
A monkey stole his baton and chomped off the tip.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 11, 2023
Then Beatrice had performed an astounding feat— she’d lifted his bicycle by the sprockets and chomped a hole in the rear tire, like she was biting into a pizza.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
He got his start by creating beats for stars including Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, before chomping up the charts in his own right.
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026
“Only one thing missing,” the Burger King president said, wiping at his mouth with his hand after chomping into one of the chain’s Whoppers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
There is, of course, some suspicious, terrifying revelation promised that will surely result in lots of screaming and chomping.
From Salon ● Jan. 3, 2025
When I wrote “Bad Mormon,” I needed to trim it down, so I was just chomping at the bit to write a second one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2024
I don’t need to fish for juicy gossip; I know Violet’s been chomping at the bit to tell me in person.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
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.
