dun
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
duns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dunned,
past participle, past
-
dunning
present participle
noun
-
a person, especially a creditor, who duns another.
-
a demand for payment, especially a written one.
noun
-
a brownish-grey colour
-
a horse of this colour
-
angling
-
an immature adult mayfly (the subimago), esp one of the genus Ephemera
-
an artificial fly imitating this or a similar fly
-
adjective
-
of a dun colour
-
dark and gloomy
verb
noun
-
a person, esp a hired agent, who importunes another for the payment of a debt
-
a demand for payment, esp one in writing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dunsimple
-
dunssimple
-
have dunnedperfect
-
has dunnedperfect
-
am dunningprogressive
-
are dunningprogressive
-
is dunningprogressive
-
have been dunningperfect progressive
-
has been dunningperfect progressive
Past
-
dunnedsimple
-
had dunnedperfect
-
was dunningprogressive
-
were dunningprogressive
-
had been dunningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dun1
First recorded in 1620–30; origin obscure
Origin of dun2
First recorded before 1000; Middle English don, dun(ne), Old English dun; cognate with Old Saxon dun; probably of Celtic origin; compare Irish donn “dark,” Welsh dwnn “brownish”
Explanation
Use the adjective dun for something that’s a dusty grey brown color, like a dun cow, or the dun entry rug that used to be white. The noun and adjective forms of dun all relate to color. It probably comes from German roots, and may be related to the word dusk, as a dun color has a dull quality that you might associate with dusk or fading light. A dun horse is called a Dun. As a verb, to dun means to attempt to collect an overdue bill. You might dun your brother for that $10 he owes you from 3 months ago.
Vocabulary lists containing dun
Twelfth Night
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Tolkien Reading Day, List 7
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
War Horse
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
But developers won’t know it until state officials dun them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
I laughed at first, as I slowly made my way toward the board, but no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, that “dun, dun, dun, dun” kept getting louder.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2025
One of this crew, no surprise, ends up dead before the night is over, and an unusually somber Poirot must figure out whodunit, before he himself gets dun.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 13, 2023
Instead of the lush, even green of the surrounding pastures, the vegetation here was a mottled dun, many-textured, thin and low to the ground.
From New York Times ● Jul. 13, 2022
The round little man looked splendid in his new robes, with their broad bands of dun and butternut and narrow stripes of red.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
This unexpected shape cuts through the woods’ muted greens and duns, stirring hikers from ambling reveries, reminding them that they move through forests that once held much mightier trees.
From New York Times ● Apr. 30, 2020
There are now more than a thousand designs, with threads blending in the traditional dull duns, purples and ochres of the Scottish Highlands, to brash patterns with bright reds, pinks and yellows.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 9, 2012
Similarly, Rich's seldom duns its 450,000 charge customers for payment.
From Time Magazine Archive
The trout might appear to be taking bluewing olive duns, but they could actually be eating cripples, emergers, floating nymphs, or something else entirely, like spent trico spinners floating flush with the surface.
From Time Magazine Archive
And now the problem of escaping his duns vexed Mr. Lovely more acutely than before.
From The Passionate Elopement by Compton MacKenzie
Countries that ban imports made with forced labor but fail to effectively enforce their prohibitions are dunned 10%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Debtors dunned by creditors face similarly dire consequences.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 5, 2021
In some cases, the hospitals referred the individuals to bill collectors who dunned them for the payments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2019
Four of those patients were dunned by collection agencies.
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2018
Still, she never dunned me and was as generous with her servings of food during mealtime as ever.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
After the death of his former longtime lover Robert, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Arthur learns that probate court is dunning him for years of back rent in Robert’s San Francisco home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2022
While she does not know that person’s motive, she has a strong objection to dunning co-workers to contribute to gifts — doubly so when the recipient is the boss.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2022
In February 2016, Wickizer received a letter from the state of Virginia saying that the medical center would be dunning money from any tax refund she might get.
From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2017
The Irish see little point in dunning Apple for back taxes.
From Economist ● Sep. 8, 2016
You come here dunning me for money as though I were made of it.
From The Scarlet Feather by Will Grefé
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.
