to crunch numbers
- phrasal verb
- /krʌnʧ ˈnʌmbərz/
- We still need to sit down and crunch the numbers.
- Let's crunch the numbers
- analysts who crunch numbers
- crunch the budget numbers
But they crunch the numbers and that's what it is.
- But they crunch the numbers and that's what it is.
- And they and they literally crunched the numbers to say that we can use arts to to change cities.
- Sat at a desk, crunch numbers, learn geography, learn history.
- They've got things that they know probably is just crunching numbers.
- Huge studies and they and so, but then when they crunch the numbers, they're like butter, butter ain't bad, OK.
Examples
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Let's crunch some numbers.
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Let me crunch some numbers.
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I just like crunching numbers...
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First off, thank you for crunching the numbers on this.
Blog text (28) -
The only way to know is by crunching the numbers.
Blog text (21) -
We had the junior math squad crunch the numbers.
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But the young banker wanted to do more than crunch numbers, so he developed as a leader.
Blog text (15) -
If you are thinking about signing an ebook-only deal with a publisher, crunch the numbers first.
Blog text (32) -
You know, Stu's someone who's not afraid to crunch the numbers and make the tough decisions.
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Before we finalize the budget, we need to crunch numbers to see how much we can afford.
Synonyms
To make many calculations using a computer to find results
To work out numbers quickly in your head
Antonyms
How Intensive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'crunch' has a literal sense of crushing/chewing that is metaphorically extended to intensive processing, so when combined with 'numbers' it plausibly yields 'process or calculate numerical data.' This metaphorical extension is reasonably inferable but not fully predictable in its precise sense (quick/efficient calculation or analysis), so a B1 learner who knows the parts would likely grasp a general idea but might miss the specific nuance.
Etymology
Crunch numbers comes from the picture of someone or a machine crunching like biting, breaking many numbers into smaller pieces to make them easier to study. So, it means 'to do quick calculations or look closely at a lot of data'.