hunchback

[ huhnch-bak ]

/ ˈhʌntʃˌbæk /

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noun

a person whose back is humped in a convex position because of abnormal spinal curvature.Compare kyphosis, kyphoscoliosis.

humpback (def. 1).

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Origin of hunchback

First recorded in 1705–15; back formation from hunchbacked

Words nearby hunchback

Humvee, Hun, Húna Bay, Hunan, hunch, hunchback, hunchbacked, hund., hundred, hundred and eighty degree turn, Hundred Days

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use hunchback in a sentence

He was described by Shakespeare as having a hunchback and indeed the skeleton shows evidence of curvature of the spine.
CONFIRMED: Skeleton Found Under City Car Park IS That Of Villainous Richard III|Tom Sykes|February 4, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The young woman, seated near the fire-place, was the wife of Fergan, Joan the Hunchback.
The Pilgrim's Shell or Fergan the Quarryman|Eugne Sue
The Norman did not see a certain, dark-visaged hunchback, who strove to thrust himself through the throng to a station beside him.
God Wills It!|William Stearns Davis
Leonard frowned; then glared at the hunchback, who was still peering at them.
Four Days|Hetty Hemenway

I could not resist the inclination to look back at the hunchback.
Fifty-Two Stories For Girls|Various
Every hand, every tongue was against the hunchback, yet my shame saved me.
The Proud Prince|Justin Huntly McCarthy

British Dictionary definitions for hunchback

hunchback

/ (ˈhʌntʃˌbæk) /

noun

a person having an abnormal convex curvature of the thoracic spine

such a curvature

Also called: humpback

Compare kyphosis, hollow-back

Derived forms of hunchback

hunchbacked, adjective

Word Origin for hunchback

C18: from earlier hunchbacked, huckbacked humpbacked, influenced by bunchbacked, from bunch (in obsolete sense of hump) + backed

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012