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

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Etymology

Origin of hunch

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

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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

It feels great to act on a hunch and profit, but that ETF you bought might not have gone up because of what’s on the label.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Hartnett’s hunch appears to be playing out as several other commentators in the market have also decided the yields on offer in fixed-income markets are compelling.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

The practice of pulling over random vehicles, often based on little more than a hunch, has been a cornerstone of the city’s crime-fighting strategy for decades.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

Vivienne's hunch was confirmed - she had hypermobile joints.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

On a hunch, I maneuver my way to the side aisle, and to the racks of canned soda, which are also beginning to disappear.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

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

But most are not well versed in sifting through medical research, and separating high-quality evidence from anecdotes and hunches.

From Slate ● Apr. 16, 2026

The government’s explanations for the arrests, wrote Judge Jennifer Thurston in Fresno, “rely on unsupported assumptions, hunches and generalizations about the relationship between a person’s apparent status as a day laborer and their immigration status.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2026

Her good shoulder hunches over, she lets out a deep quiet breath, and before long, she starts humming.

From "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi

"I always saw him in black, looking very serious and hunched over. He wouldn't say good morning or good evening."

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

They sat hunched inside the glass courtroom cage for most of the hearings, backs to the line of TV cameras.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 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

It was a small place, crisscrossed with dirt roads that strung together a hundred-odd weathered brick houses hunched up on sandy soil.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026

Bizarre machines, chalkboards full of odd notations, and people hunched over tiny slips of paper.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

My adult physical life has been a mixed bag of hyper-athletic hot yoga, long country runs and hunching over my computer for days on end.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

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

Do not round your back by hunching or arching it.

From New York Times ● Mar. 23, 2022

Bridge bounced off the bed and sat in her desk chair, hunching forward to face Emily.

From "Goodbye Stranger" by Rebecca Stead

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Related Words

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