gravel cruncher

noun

A member of the military who is deployed on the ground rather than airborne.

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Meanings

noungravel cruncher (plural gravel crunchers)

plural gravel crunchers

  1. USslanggovernmentA member of the military who is deployed on the ground rather than airborne.

    Nonaka seized on the critical importance of those who stormed the beaches first—the “gravel crunchers” as the Marines called them. It was a dangerous job.

    2012, Daniel Denison, Robert Hooijberg, Nancy Lane, Leading Culture Change in Global Organizations
    1 more example

    They developed a tremendous respect for the gravel crunchers after sweating out a few rounds of artillery and observing at painfully close range how rocky a Korean hill can be.

    1952, Naval Aviation News, page 9

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
ground cruncher
Cite this entry
APA

gravel cruncher. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gravel%20cruncher

MLA

“gravel cruncher.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gravel%20cruncher. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gravel cruncher,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gravel%20cruncher.

Source: gravel cruncher on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.