hunch

American  

[huhnch] / hʌntʃ /

verb (used with object)

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)

1. to thrust oneself forward jerkily; lunge forward.

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

noun

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

Etymology

Origin of hunch

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

Example Sentences

She confirmed her hunch by tracking the recent and 10-year performance of FedEx shares.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 8, 2026

In fact, if you want to make a hunch bet in Las Vegas, former Narbonne linebacker Uchenna Nwosu of the Seahawks might be someone to consider.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 4, 2026

Monahan's own hunch centres on a subtype of the E. coli bacteria in the gut.

From Barron's • Feb. 4, 2026

My hunch is that many who are making this false claim about the stocks-bonds correlation are overly fixated on the 60/40 portfolio’s 2022 loss, believing that a loss that large sounded the portfolio’s death knell.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 15, 2026

What tempered his guilt was the hunch that if Travis was watching them from some lofty vantage point, he was happy for them.

From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner

Related Words

• inkling
• instinct
• intuition
• premonition