crunch
[verb]
Synonyms:
- chomp, champ, chew noisily, grind, munch
[noun]
Synonyms:
- critical point, crisis, crux, emergency, moment of truth, test

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. crunch¹ /krʌntʃ/ noun

1. [singular] a noise like the sound of something being crushed:
The only sound was the crunch of tyres on gravel.

2. [countable, singular] American English a difficult situation caused by a lack of something, especially money or time:
Three new teachers were hired to help ease the crunch.
cash/budget/financial etc crunch
Cost cutting had enabled the organization to survive a previous cash crunch.

3. the crunch (also crunch time American English) an important time, especially one when a difficult decision has to be made:
The crunch came when my bank asked for my credit card back.
When it came to the crunch, she couldn’t agree to marry him.

4. [countable] an exercise in which you lie on your back and lift your head and shoulders off the ground to make your stomach muscles strong Synonym : sit-up

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. crunch² verb
[Date: 1800-1900; Origin: cranch 'to crunch' (17-19 centuries), probably from the sound; influenced by munch]

1. [intransitive] to make a sound like something being crushed:
Their boots crunched loudly on the frozen snow.

2. [intransitive always + adverb/preposition, transitive] to eat hard food in a way that makes a noise
crunch on
The dog was crunching on a bone.

3. crunch (the) numbers to do a lot of calculations in order to find an answer:
The computer will crunch all the numbers to determine the final score.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

crunch
verb
ADV. loudly | underfoot Snow crunched underfoot.
up
PREP. on He was crunching loudly on an apple

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲