dune
Americannoun
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dunes
plural
noun
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A hill or ridge of wind-blown sand. Dunes are capable of moving by the motion of their individual grains but usually keep the same shape.
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See more at barchan dune draa longitudinal dune seif dune transverse dune
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dune
1780–90; < French, Old French < Middle Dutch dūna; cognate with down 3
Explanation
A dune is a natural hill made of sand, either on a beach or in a desert. It's a good idea to bring plenty of water and a camel if you're trekking across sand dunes in the Sahara. Sometimes people drive special vehicles on the dunes beside the ocean — these are sometimes called "dune buggies." These seaside dunes are formed by a combination of wind and water, while the dunes in a desert are purely the result of wind. The origin of the word dune is somewhat uncertain, although it probably comes from a French word with an older Germanic root.
Vocabulary lists containing dune
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Seas The Day: Words That Shore Are Beachy
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Non-Color Words to Use When Describing Color
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"Firefighters will carry out combined operations of clearing forest undergrowth and treating the edges of the fire in the dune area," a prefecture official said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
The scheme, alongside others including Nuclear Waste Services and Cumbria Wildlife Trust, will involve surveying the county's sand dune habitats which, like those in the rest of the country, have been historically degraded.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
A photo of a sand dune, in which she’s seated alongside Chowdhury as a toddler, helps illustrate her point that sand can flow like a liquid yet retain its shape like a solid.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
Emojis, Disney characters, cigarettes and more pile up in humorous scenes that include a saber-toothed tiger driving a dune buggy and a pair of corvids fighting over a worm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
All at once the desert road went over a sand dune.
From "Lupita Mañana" by Patricia Beatty
The tournament is set to draw up to 75,000 spectators to the links course, set among towering dunes on a rugged stretch of County Clare coastline.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
Eighty percent of the bird species in Albania can be found here, across sand dunes, pine forest, and a lagoon that stretches over 16 square miles.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
At 09:30, a dozen or so migrants emerged from the sand dunes.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
The retreat boasts secluded white sand, dunes, a palm-lined lagoon and multiple beaches, several of which Depp named in honor of people close to him, including his children and former partner Vanessa Paradis.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
One Thursday before they called him to go to the river, Aureliano heard him say: “I have died of fever on the dunes of Singapore.”
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
