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
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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
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
During the attempt, though, the pope asks Quasi to kill the king, leaving the hunchback in a bind.
From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2023
Nothing angered the hunchback as quickly as catching Fezzik thinking.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
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
He took back all the money that had brought success to the hunchbacks, and made a present of it the beautiful Falide, which was the name of this charming lady.
From Voltaire's Romances, Complete in One Volume by
Compare the Irish story of two hunchbacks in Keightley.
From Indian Fairy Tales by Anonymous
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.
