dune
Americannoun
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
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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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.
"DUNE coming online will be extremely exciting. It will be the best neutrino experiment ever."
From Science Daily • Dec. 5, 2024
The second, DUNE, is an international collaboration that will build just the guts of the detectors.
From Science Magazine • Sep. 28, 2022
One of them, dubbed the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, or DUNE, aims to understand another mysterious property of neutrinos: how they oscillate, or change type.
From Scientific American • Jun. 15, 2022
I peeked into CERN’s main hall and briefly listened to a presentation on DUNE, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.
From New York Times • May 28, 2018
Numerous other infrastructure improvements would be tied to preparing the underground lab for the DUNE, Willhite and Headley explained.
From Washington Times • Mar. 27, 2017
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.
