hunchback
Americannoun
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hunchbacks
plural
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a person whose back is humped in a convex position because of abnormal spinal curvature.
noun
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a person having an abnormal convex curvature of the thoracic spine
-
such a curvature
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hunchback
First recorded in 1705–15; back formation from hunchbacked
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:
Though mean-spirited, the jester Rigoletto — Verdi’s hapless, vengeful hunchback — wins our hearts as the outsider whom a heartless world so often abuses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2025
He saw the gloriously skewed al-Hadba minaret, known as the "hunchback", which had been emblematic of Mosul for hundreds of years, in ruins.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2025
“The courtroom sketch artist hates him. I mean, absolutely, she turned him into the hunchback of ‘Bloatra Dame.’
From New York Times ● May 3, 2024
This leads into an aspect that I want to discuss, which others have pointed out: Richard III is typically played by someone who is mimicking a hunchback or portraying scoliosis.
From Salon ● May 18, 2023
Especially a four-year-old who could march steadfastly by a garbage can that had suddenly developed a hunchback and great lopsided eyes, without even seeming to notice.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Richard II is about a deposition of a sitting monarch but features no hunchbacks.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2011
Angels, hunchbacks, giant toucans materialize as cameo apparitions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Wizened old women bent like hunchbacks sold flavored waters and goat's milk from glazed ceramic jugs strapped to their shoulders.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Some of them looked like hunchbacks, and their branches bent towards the ground, as though they found that even the flowers were too heavy for them to carry.
From Marie Claire by John N. Raphael
But there were no lepers, there were no hunchbacks; there were only Zia and the light.
From The Little Hunchback Zia by Frances Hodgson Burnett
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