Meaning of punch in English

punch

noun

/pʌntʃ/ us

/pʌntʃ/

punch noun (HIT)

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B2 [ C ]

a forceful hit with a fist (= closed hand):

punch in He was knocked out by a punch in the face.

She gave him a punch on the nose.

throw a punch Some of the crowd started getting aggressive and threw a punch or two (= hit people).

land a punch The former champion hardly landed a punch in rounds four and five.

See also

sucker punch

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to hit someone or something

hitShe was expelled for hitting another pupil.
whackShe whacked the water with her paddle.
bashThe swinging door bashed him in the face.
strikeShe had been struck on the head with a golf ball.
beatHe was cruel to his dog and beat it with a stick.
punchHe punched me in the stomach.

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More examplesFewer examples

The boxer was felled by a punch to the head.
He threw a punch at his attacker.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Hitting and beating

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punch noun (EFFECT)

[ U ]

the power to be interesting and have a strong effect on people:

A second novel often doesn't have the same punch as the debut.

lack punch I felt the performance/speech/presentation lacked punch.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Efficient and effective

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punch noun (DRINK)

[ C or U ]

a cold or hot drink made by mixing fruit juices, pieces of fruit, and often wine or other alcoholic drinks

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Cocktails

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punch noun (TOOL)

[ C ]

a piece of equipment that cuts holes in a material by pushing a piece of metal through it:

a ticket punch

hole punch Have you seen the hole punch anywhere?

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Tools

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punch

verb [ T ]

/pʌntʃ/ us

/pʌntʃ/

punch verb [T] (HIT)

to hit someone or something with your fist (= closed hand):

punch someone in something He punched him in the stomach.

See also

sucker punch

mainly US

to hit with your fingers the buttons on a phone or the keys on a keyboard

More examplesFewer examples

He was punched in the face.
The two youths punched the old man and snatched his wallet.
The boys in the cartoon were punching each other - wham, zap!
He punched me on the nose.
She punched her pillow in frustration.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Hitting and beating

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Writing & typing

punch verb [T] (USE TOOL)

to make a hole in something with a special piece of equipment:

I was just punching holes in some sheets of paper.

This belt's too big - I'll have to punch an extra hole in it.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Making holes in things

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be punching

UK slang

to be in a romantic relationship with someone who is considered more attractive, more successful, etc. than you:

Here's a photo of my girlfriend - do you think I'm punching?

"Love Island" contestants are obsessed with who is and isn't punching.

Compare

punch above your weight informal

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Relationships: general words

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Idioms

punch someone's lights out
punch above your weight
punch the clock

Phrasal verbs

punch down
punch in
punch something in
punch out
punch something up
punch up

(Definition of punch from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

punch | American Dictionary

punch

noun

/pʌntʃ/

punch noun (HIT)

Add to word list Add to word list

[ C ]

a forceful hit with a fist (= hand with the fingers closed tight)

punch noun (EFFECT)

[ U ]

the power to be interesting and have a strong effect on people:

His acting gives the show its emotional punch.

punch noun (DRINK)

[ C/U ]

a cold or hot drink made by mixing fruit juices, pieces of fruit, and sometimes alcohol:

[ U ] Would you like a glass of punch?

punch noun (TOOL)

[ C ]

a piece of equipment that cuts holes in a material by pushing a piece of metal through it:

a hole/leather punch

punch

verb [ I/T ]

/pʌntʃ/

punch verb [I/T] (HIT)

to hit forcefully with your fist:

[ T ] She punched the pillow, trying to fluff it up.

punch verb [I/T] (CUT HOLE)

to cut a hole in a material by pushing a piece of metal through it:

The rod came loose, punching a hole in the box.

Phrasal verbs

punch in
punch in something
punch out

(Definition of punch from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

punch | Business English

punch

verb [ T ]

/pʌnʃ/ us

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to make a hole in something using a special tool or machine:

I have to punch my time card when I come into work every morning.

punch a hole in sth They brought in a team of specialists to punch holes in the steel boiler.

punch above your weight

to be successful or important in a particular way in spite of not being very big:

The internet offers opportunities for small businesses to punch above their weight.

It's a small nation that consistently punches above its weight in the international arena.

punch the clock US

WORKPLACE

to record the time that you begin and end work, especially by using a special machine to make a hole in a card:

Workers are required to punch the clock at an increasingly early hour.

Phrasal verbs

punch in

punch out

(Definition of punch from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of punch

punch

Data were systematically taken from the clinic notes, coded and transferred to punched cards for analysis.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The data were coded to 80-column punch card format and transferred to magnetic tape.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Just why the junta seemingly ' pulled its punches ' forms an intriguing puzzle, one that may be fruitfully analysed at the organisational level.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The view presented here, hardly novel in itself, is that the popes could not, and did not, punch above their real weight.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Of course, the book also contains some very satisfying local rhetorical trajectories, but the punch lines seem to multiply irrespective of the argument.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Initially, the work concentrated on developing heuristics for nesting, automating the staging and punch shape selection, and decomposition process.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Punch cartoons, not known for their progressive views on feminism, adopt one of two views of women on horseback, neither of them positive.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The shape of the extruding punch can be calculated from a table relating the punch dimensions to the principal dimensions of the burring.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Therefore, a total of four punch blows are needed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The interviews were coded independently so that differences could be due to coding errors, punching errors, interview errors, or to differences in reporting.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

That moment must have packed a punch leaving few spines untingled.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A system for automated punch selection and staging design for progressive dies.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Two 1.27-cm holes punched in the paper determined stimulus size.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

But in these days of straitened library budgets and stratospheric prices, it would be wrong to pull punches.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Because of the vagaries of radiocarbon dating, however, the double punch must remain for the moment merely intriguing speculation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of punch?

Translations of punch

in Chinese (Traditional)

打, 一拳，一擊, 影響…

Meaning of punch in English

punch noun (HIT)

punch noun (EFFECT)

punch noun (DRINK)

punch noun (TOOL)

punch verb [T] (HIT)

punch verb [T] (USE TOOL)

Idioms

Phrasal verbs

punch | American Dictionary

punch noun (HIT)

punch noun (EFFECT)

punch noun (DRINK)

punch noun (TOOL)

punch verb [I/T] (HIT)

punch verb [I/T] (CUT HOLE)

Phrasal verbs

punch | Business English

Phrasal verbs

Examples of punch

Translations of punch

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