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 northern dune tiger beetle is particularly fast moving and can travel at up to 2.5m a second, said Harper.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 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
In one case, human footprints appear alongside deer tracks created at the same time, supporting the idea of pursuit or ambush activity within the dune environment.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 13, 2025
The sand they stood on was soft, and the slope of the dune nearby was inviting.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
A few hundred yards away, the cockpit window of Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon fills the dunes of Tatooine, then the towers of Coruscant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
In the report they published following their visit, they highlighted damage to turtle nesting sites, bird habitats and the local dunes.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
This 2.5-inch lizard lives exclusively in the West Texas dunes, where oil and gas production has been encroaching on its territory, the groups argued.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
This could involve artificially creating corridors in the dunes to channel wind so sand can move around more, Harper said.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
The four children stood atop the dunes and looked down over the empty sand.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
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.
