scrunch

American  

[skruhnch, skroonch] / skrʌntʃ, skrʊntʃ /

verb (used with object)

1. to crunch, crush, or crumple.

2. to contract; squeeze together.

   I had to scrunch my shoulders to get through the door.

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verb (used without object)

1. to squat or hunker (often followed bydown ).

noun

1. the act or sound of scrunching.

scrunch British  

/ skrʌntʃ /

verb

1. to crumple, crush, or crunch or to be crumpled, crushed, or crunched

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noun

1. the act or sound of scrunching

Etymology

Origin of scrunch

First recorded in 1815–25; perhaps expressive variant of crunch

Explanation

To scrunch is to crumple or crush something. In the process of writing your novel by hand, you'll have to scrunch a lot of pages and toss them into the trash can. You can scrunch up you sister's favorite shirt and shove it back in her drawer after she says you can't borrow it, and you can also scrunch up your face in anger. Use this verb whenever you crease, wrinkle, crush, or squeeze something into a mass. It's also a good term for a crunching sound: "I heard a scrunch in the dry leaves under my window." Scrunch arose as an intensive form of crunch, originally meaning "to bite."

Example Sentences

You cook them really quickly in a pan with butter and then scrunch them, which allows for the maple-soy butter to pool in all the little pockets.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026

My face would scrunch up and I’d shudder from the intense flavors, but I never cried.

From Salon • Sep. 13, 2025

Since the mid-1960s, microscopists have seen that axons can scrunch up to form beads when they are diseased or under other stress.

From Science Magazine • Dec. 2, 2024

A good way to check if wrapping paper is recyclable, according to Wrap, is the "scrunch test".

From BBC • Dec. 3, 2022

She told us to scrunch under our desks.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt