chunking

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noun

The process of reducing something to short, thick pieces, usually using a hammer or a crowbar.

UncommonScrabble 18

Meanings

nounchunking (countable and uncountable, plural chunkings)

plural chunkings

  1. countableuncountableThe process of reducing something to short, thick pieces, usually using a hammer or a crowbar.
  2. countableuncountablehuman sciencesA strategy for making more efficient use of short-term memory by recoding information.

    Chunking is the reason that phone numbers are broken into two parts plus an area code and that credit card numbers are split into groups of four.

    2011, Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein, The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, Penguin, →ISBN
  3. countableuncountablecommunicationsA method of presenting information which splits concepts into small pieces or "chunks" of information to make reading and understanding faster and easier, using such methods as bulleted lists, short subheadings, or short sentences with one or two ideas per sentence.
  4. countableuncountablecomputingThe division of memory or data etc. into smaller units for easier processing.
  5. countableuncountableeducationThe partial-quotients method for solving simple division problems by repeated subtraction.
verb
  1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of chunk

Synonyms & antonyms

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

Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Cite this entry
APA

chunking. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chunking

MLA

“chunking.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chunking. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chunking,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chunking.

Source: chunking on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.