shun

¹ American  

[shuhn] / ʃʌn /

verb (used with object)

shunned, shunning

1. to keep away from (a place, person, object, etc.), from motives of dislike, caution, etc.; take pains to avoid.

   Synonyms:

   eschew, evade

   Antonyms:

   seek

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Shun ² American  

[shoon] / ʃun /

noun

Wade-Giles, Pinyin.

1. Yao1

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'shun ¹ British  

/ ʃʌn /

interjection

1. military a clipped form of attention

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shun ² British  

/ ʃʌn /

verb

1. (tr) to avoid deliberately; keep away from

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Other Word Forms

• shunnable adjective
• shunner noun
• unshunnable adjective

Etymology

Origin of shun

First recorded before 950; Middle English shunen, Old English scunian “to avoid, fear”

Example Sentences

Rather than shun the growing underground of youthful hackers, he had been attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club, where young Altair and Commodore users met to trade their tiny software programs and swap lore.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026

In November, executives said the chain had attracted more upper-income consumers, while lower-income customers continued to shun dining out.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 11, 2026

Whether you celebrate or shun the sprouts at Christmas, the success of this little green veg is highly dependent on the weather.

From BBC • Dec. 18, 2025

Unless your mom’s budget-conscious philosophy of making everything from scratch led her to shun most pre-fab meals, as mine did.

From Salon • Oct. 25, 2025

There was a computer interface there, which Citra used for her studies—because unlike Faraday, Scythe Curie did not shun the digital when it came to learning.

From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman

Related Words

• despise
• disdain
• eschew
• neglect
• pass up
• refuse
• reject
• scorn
• snub