WordWeb Online

1. The sound of something crunching
   "he heard the crunch of footsteps on the gravel path"
    
2. A critical situation that arises because of a shortage (as a shortage of time, money or resources)
   "an end-of-the-year crunch"; "a financial crunch"
    
3. The act of crushing
   - crush, compaction

1. Make a crushing noise
   "his shoes were crunching on the gravel";
   - scranch [dialect], scraunch [dialect], crackle, scrunch
    
2. Press or grind with a crushing noise
   - cranch, craunch, grind, scrunch
    
3. Crush with the teeth, making a grinding sound
   "The children crunched the celery sticks";
   - munch
    
4. Reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading
   "crunch the spices in a mortar";
   - grind, mash, bray [archaic], comminute [rare]

Derived forms: crunching, crunches, crunched

Type of: break up, chew, compressing, compression, fragment, fragmentise [Brit], fragmentize, jaw [informal], make noise, manducate, masticate, noise, press, resound, situation

Encyclopedia: Crunch