hunker down

phrasal verb

hunkered down; hunkering down; hunkers down
chiefly US
1
: to lower the body to the ground by bending the legs
The hikers hunkered down under a cliff until the storm passed.
2
: to stay in a place for a period of time
The leaders hunkered down at a country estate for difficult peace negotiations.

Examples of hunker down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web While Biden is hunkering down at Camp David, participating in mock debates and refining his message with advisers, Trump has been holding policy meetings with his vice presidential candidates and former administration officials. Lalee Ibssa, ABC News, 20 June 2024 But this meant that actual tornadoes caused frequent delays, forcing cast and crew to halt production and hunker down until a storm passed. Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 14 June 2024 With people hunkering down at home and huge numbers of workers laid off, governments and central banks tried to mitigate the devastation with both fiscal and monetary stimulus — including by directly spending more and by slashing interest rates to encourage borrowing. Jonathan Swan, New York Times, 8 June 2024 Both have an in-room sink, restroom, and shower, and larger abodes to hunker down in than the smaller roomettes. Marianna Cerini, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 June 2023 See all Example Sentences for hunker down 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hunker down.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near hunker down

Cite this Entry

“Hunker down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hunker%20down. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!