number cruncher
3
4.5
- noun
- Informal
:
analista de datos
- The best predictions did not come from the partisans; they came from the number crunchers who took a hard look at what the polls and economic data had to say.
- just a number cruncher
Examples
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For those lazy people like me, you number crunchers are our gurus.
Blog text (2) -
They knew what most of us didn't: Mitt, a creative number cruncher.
Blog text (29) -
Here to tell you how it happened is professional number cruncher, Miss Natalie Certain.
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Start with The New York Times' number cruncher Nate Silver.
Blog text (10) -
You're the most productive number cruncher in your unit.
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The way the federal government runs things is already bad enough, but it's officially projected to get only worse, much worse, in the years ahead according to the government's own number crunchers.
Blog text (10) -
You're a number cruncher.
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Several post-election news stories have talked about how a group of "number crunchers" in a windowless room known as "the cave" at Obama Campaign Headquarters in Chicago mined data to drive nearly every decision made throughout the two-year-long campaign.
Blog text (2) -
Microsoft recently brought its family of Office applications to full 64-bit compatibility; for an intensive app such as Outlook, you can expect an even higher level of stability and compatibility. Number crunchers who work in Excel can also see major benefits when working on larger workbooks.
Blog text (15) -
The number cruncher analyzed the financial data to help the company make informed decisions.
Synonyms
23
6.7
A person who collects and studies numbers to find patterns
6
5.1
A person or machine that quickly processes large amounts of data
1
4.5
A person who calculates how much a job will cost
1
6.5
A person who works with numbers, for example in accounting
A person who is very good at working out numbers quickly
A person who is good at doing calculations with numbers
How Skilled
- Specialized
23
6.7
- Informal
3
4.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'number' (numerical data) + 'cruncher' (one who crunches/processes) yields a person who processes or calculates numbers. This agent‑noun formation is productive and predictable in English, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Number cruncher may also come from the image of a person 'crunching' many numbers, working through figures one after another. So it means a person who is skilled at doing complex calculations or analyzing data.