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

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

“We’re here on what I would call a hunch or, at best, a suspicion,” said Brian Perkins, an attorney representing multiple victims in the case.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

Matejka’s hunch is that unlike 2025, Magnificent Seven stocks may not set the pace in a rebound and the leadership may be more broad-based.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 27, 2026

Dr Nick Longrich, a paleontologist at the University of Bath, said his hunch was that they were mainly preying on ammonites.

From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026

I’m surprised how fast I got used to the cold even though the wind makes me hunch up my shoulders and walk fast.

From "Finding Langston" by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Dott's lawyer, Euan Dow, said emotions in such cases were natural, and urged jurors to not to decide the verdicts on "hunches" or "suspicions".

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

If you bet money on whims and hunches, you’ll pull it right back out based on gut feelings, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 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 audience rehashed its hunches, they circled potential suspects, they stared at a static image of a horrific crime scene, awash in twinkling moonlight.

From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026

She doesn’t say anything, but I can see the pleasure in her body language, the way she hunches hungrily over the bills and runs her good hand across their crisp surfaces.

From "Legend" by Marie Lu

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

From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026

Williams sat hunched as he said "not guilty" to each of the charges.

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

Sydney asked as they walked, hunched over so their heads wouldn’t hit the stone ceiling.

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

To challenge that, he made Clark Kent a nerd, hunching his shoulders, making him sputter with nervousness.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 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

"Then I saw a monkey hunching over my child."

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2022

Just as they were finishing, a leopard seal loomed through the mist, hunching itself across the ice.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

Related Words

• inkling
• instinct
• intuition
• premonition