HUNCH

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hunch mean? 

• HUNCH (noun)
  The noun HUNCH has 2 senses:

1. an impression that something might be the case

2. the act of bending yourself into a humped position

  Familiarity information: HUNCH used as a noun is rare.

• HUNCH (verb)
  The verb HUNCH has 1 sense:

1. round one's back by bending forward and drawing the shoulders forward

  Familiarity information: HUNCH used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HUNCH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An impression that something might be the case

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

hunch; intuition; suspicion

Context example:

he had an intuition that something had gone wrong

Hypernyms ("hunch" is a kind of...):

belief; feeling; impression; notion; opinion (a vague idea in which some confidence is placed)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hunch"):

bosom; heart (the locus of feelings and intuitions)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of bending yourself into a humped position

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("hunch" is a kind of...):

bending (the act of bending something)

Derivation:

hunch (round one's back by bending forward and drawing the shoulders forward)

• HUNCH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they hunch    ... he / she / it hunches   
Past simple: hunched   
Past participle: hunched   
-ing form: hunching   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Round one's back by bending forward and drawing the shoulders forward

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

hump; hunch; hunch forward; hunch over

Hypernyms (to "hunch" is one way to...):

change posture (undergo a change in bodily posture)

"Hunch" entails doing...:

bend; flex (form a curve)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

hunch (the act of bending yourself into a humped position)

 Context examples 

With the exception of Lip-lip, they were compelled to hunch together for mutual protection against the terrible enemy they had made.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Summerlee was on guard, sitting hunched over our small fire, a quaint, angular figure, his rifle across his knees and his pointed, goat-like beard wagging with each weary nod of his head.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her hunch was borne out in the data, with elephants consuming only 3 percent of the fruit but producing 37 percent of the viable seedlings.

(Thai Elephants Help Spread Jungle Fruit's Seeds, Sadie Witkowski/VOA)

As he approached he saw that they had five dried herrings laid out in front of them, with a great hunch of wheaten bread and a leathern flask full of milk, but instead of setting to at their food they appeared to have forgot all about it, and were disputing together with flushed faces and angry gestures.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was plainly blind, for he tapped before him with a stick and wore a great green shade over his eyes and nose; and he was hunched, as if with age or weakness, and wore a huge old tattered sea-cloak with a hood that made him appear positively deformed.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)