Meaning & use
hump
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Meanings
nouncountable
A rounded raised part, such as on the back of a camel or on a road.
Grammar: Has a plural: two humps.
Patterns
- a hump in something
A dromedary camel has one hump, and a Bactrian camel has two.
The car bounced over a hump in the road.
Her back developed a slight hump with age.
nounsingularfigurative
The hardest or most difficult part of a task, which once passed makes the rest easier.
Grammar: Usually with over: get over the hump.
Patterns
- over the hump
- get over the hump
Once we finish the foundation, we'll be over the hump.
Wednesday is the hump of the working week.
Getting over the hump of learning the basics took a month.
verbtransitiveinformalBritish
To carry something heavy with effort.
Grammar: Takes an object: hump the boxes.
Patterns
- hump something up/into something
We humped the boxes up three flights of stairs.
He humped his backpack across the field.
She had to hump the shopping home.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To arch your back or shoulders into a rounded shape.
Grammar: Often seen with animals such as a cat.
Patterns
- hump your back
The cat humped its back and hissed.
He humped his shoulders against the cold wind.
Word forms
| plural | humps |
|---|---|
| third person singular | humps |
| past tense | humped |
| past participle | humped |
| -ing form | humping |
Common combinations
- over the hump
- The project is over the hump now.
- a camel's hump
- A camel's hump stores fat, not water.
- a speed hump
- Drivers slow down at the speed hump.
- hump day
- We celebrate hump day with lunch together.
- get over the hump
- If we can get over the hump of the first month, it will be easier.
- hump a load
- The porters humped the heavy loads.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bump
- A bump is usually small and sudden, whereas a hump is bigger and smoothly rounded.
- mound
- A mound is a pile of earth or similar material, while a hump can be part of a body or surface.
- lump
- A lump is any irregular swelling and may be hard, while a hump is smooth and rounded.
- peak
- Peak suggests the highest point, whereas the figurative hump is the point after which things get easier.
Opposites
Word family
- humpback noun
- a whale with a hump on its back
- humped adjective
- having a hump
- humpbacked adjective
- having a rounded raised back
- speed hump noun
- a raised strip across a road to slow cars
Commonly confused: hump or hunch?
hump vs hunch
A hunch is a feeling or a stooped position, while a hump is a raised shape.
Practice
Once the exams were finished, she felt she was finally over the ___.
Choose one answer.
Over the hump is the idiom for getting past the hardest part. The other nouns do not form the expression.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hump”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.