crunch time

alternative crunchtime · alternative crunch-time · alternative time crunch

1. colloquialuncountableA critical period of time during which it is necessary to work hard and fast.

   His decision on cluster munitions, which drew scorn from progressives in Congress, is indicative of a sense in Washington that the war is reaching crunch time as Ukraine wages a slow but steady counter-offensive.

   2023 July 7, David Smith, “End justifies means for Biden in sending cluster bombs to Ukraine”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   1 more example

   Tough-minded, Vidia reacted in much the same way as he had in Uganda. Whenever he met Indians in Kenya, he challenged them, demanding to know their backup plans in case of trouble. He called it "crunch time." "Very well then," he [V. S. Naipaul] would say after the first pleasantries, "what are you going to do when crunch time comes?

   2000, Paul Theroux, Sir Vidia's shadow: a friendship across five continents, page 61

2. uncountableball gamesThe last few minutes of play in the fourth quarter.