CHUNK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does chunk mean? 

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

1. a compact mass

2. a substantial amount

  Familiarity information: CHUNK used as a noun is rare.

• CHUNK (verb)
  The verb CHUNK has 2 senses:

1. put together indiscriminately

2. group or chunk together in a certain order or place side by side

  Familiarity information: CHUNK used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHUNK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A compact mass

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

ball; chunk; clod; clump; glob; lump

Context example:

a ball of mud caught him on the shoulder

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

agglomeration (a jumbled collection or mass)

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

clot; coagulum (a lump of material formed from the content of a liquid)

gob (a lump of slimy stuff)

clew (a ball of yarn or cord or thread)

Derivation:

chunk (group or chunk together in a certain order or place side by side)

chunky (like or containing small sticky lumps)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A substantial amount

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Context example:

we won a chunk of money

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

large indefinite amount; large indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude)

• CHUNK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they chunk    ... he / she / it chunks   
Past simple: chunked   
Past participle: chunked   
-ing form: chunking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put together indiscriminately

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

chunk; lump

Context example:

lump together all the applicants

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

accumulate; amass; collect; compile; hoard; pile up; roll up (get or gather together)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Group or chunk together in a certain order or place side by side

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

chunk; collocate; lump

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

group (arrange into a group or groups)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

chunk (a compact mass)

chunking ((psychology) the configuration of smaller units of information into large coordinated units)

 Context examples 

He saw the blaze of the fire, Kloo-kooch cooking, and Grey Beaver squatting on his hams and mumbling a chunk of raw tallow.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The payment(s) would come in chunks, either once or in the case of commissions, for example, spread out with money coming at different amounts, at various times.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

"We need tools to process solar data in digestible chunks," said Dan Seaton, an institute scientist and one of the paper's co-authors.

(Detecting solar flares in real time, National Science Foundation)

Comets are chunks of ice and dust that orbit the sun, usually on highly elliptical orbits that carry them far beyond the orbit of Pluto at their farthest points.

(ESA, NASA’s SOHO Sees Bright Sungrazer Comet, NASA)

A colossal impact with a large asteroid early in Mars' history may have ripped off a chunk of the northern hemisphere and left behind a legacy of metallic elements in the planet's interior.

(Ancient Asteroid Impact Explains Martian Geological Mysteries, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Saturn’s rings are mostly chunks of water ice ranging in size from microscopic dust grains to boulders several yards (meters) across.

(Saturn is Losing Its Rings, NASA)

The faster spin rate loosened chunks of material, which are drifting off into space.

(Hubble Takes Close-up Look at Disintegrating Comet, NASA)

Now that the close to 2,240 square-mile (5,800 square kilometers) chunk of ice has broken away, the Larsen C shelf area has shrunk by approximately 10 percent.

(Massive Iceberg Breaks Off from Antarctica, NASA)

A data type for holding large chunks of text.

(Character Large Object, NCI Thesaurus)

When the man brought him water he drank eagerly, and later bolted a generous meal of raw meat, chunk by chunk, from the man’s hand.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)