scrunch
/skɹʌnt͡ʃ/
scrunch verb: to crumple and squeeze to make more compact. Also the alternative form of scranch.
Verb
scrunch (third-person singular simple present scrunches, present participle scrunching, simple past and past participle scrunched)
- To crumple and squeeze to make more compact.
- He scrunched the paper into a ball and threw it at the whistling girl.
- […] and the scrunching of ashes under our feet I have often observed to be disagreeable to many.1793–1799, Robert Townson, Tracts and Observations in Natural History and Physiology, page 154
- To contract the muscles of one's face so as to draw their facial features together, out of pain, discomfort, uncertainty, etc.
- He scrunched his face at his wife's confounding request.
Noun
scrunch (plural scrunches)
- A crunching noise.
- The watchers knew already that the door was fastened and looked for the unknown to produce a key. Instead, there was a sudden scrunch of iron, a splintering of wood, and the door swung loosely open.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries
Also used as
scrunch is also the alternative form of scranch.
Examples of scrunch in a sentence
- The boy made a life-sized dummy of himself by stuffing scrunched- up newspapers into some old pyjamas.
- The two balls of scrunched paper in the waste bin began, creakingly, to unscrunch.
- The púca scrunched up his face in puzzlement and rubbed his bald head.
Forms of scrunch
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | scrunches |
| present participle | scrunching |
| past participle | scrunched |
| past | scrunched |
| Noun | |
| plural | scrunches |
Origin of scrunch
Attested since about 1800. Probably an intensive form of crunch; ultimately derived from the onomatopoeia of a crumpling sound; or perhaps a blend of squeeze + crunch.
Words that rhyme with scrunch
Questions about scrunch
- What does scrunch mean?
- Scrunch means to crumple and squeeze to make more compact.
- What part of speech is scrunch?
- Scrunch can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce scrunch?
- Scrunch is pronounced /skɹʌnt͡ʃ/.
- What is the past tense of scrunch?
- The past tense of scrunch is scrunched.
Words near scrunch in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: scrunch (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-scrunch.wav.
Cite this entry: “scrunch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scrunch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.