hunch
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to thrust out or up in a hump; arch.
to hunch one's back.
-
to shove, push, or jostle.
verb (used without object)
-
to thrust oneself forward jerkily; lunge forward.
-
to stand, sit, or walk in a bent posture.
noun
-
a premonition or suspicion; guess.
I have a hunch he'll run for reelection.
- Synonyms:
- conjecture, theory, feeling, surmise
-
a hump.
-
a push or shove.
-
a lump or thick piece.
noun
-
an intuitive guess or feeling
-
another word for hump
-
a lump or large piece
verb
-
to bend or draw (oneself or a part of the body) up or together
-
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 < ?
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.
Vocabulary lists containing hunch
Mockingbird
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Because of Winn-Dixie
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"A Village After Dark" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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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.
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
And after he backed up that hunch with millions of dollars, his new players proved him right.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026
“My hunch is it was shocking,” Mora said of the immigration raids last summer.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026
Monahan's own hunch centres on a subtype of the E. coli bacteria in the gut.
From Barron's • Feb. 4, 2026
“I just can’t get over it. Cassetti—on this train. I had a hunch about that man, didn’t I, Mr. Poirot?”
From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie
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.
