shun

¹

[shuhn]

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

Shun

²

[shoon]

noun

Wade-Giles, Pinyin.

1. Yao1

'shun

¹

/ ʃʌn /

interjection

1. military a clipped form of attention

shun

²

/ ʃʌn /

verb

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

Other Word Forms

• shunnable adjective
• shunner noun
• unshunnable adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of shun¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of shun¹

Old English scunian, of obscure origin

Example Sentences

Critics have shunned the contracts for blurring the line between investing and gambling.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“I think it’s very important that the publisher — the novel-making community, if I can put it like that — embraces that sense of risk rather than shuns it,” he said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Old-fashioned value investors shunned options because options presumed an ability to time price movements in undervalued stocks.

Read more on Literature

He said the claimants' complaints about the "harmful effects" were "shunned and ignored" before the nurses were "penalised and buried" in an "oppressive and ineffectual investigation process" carried out by the trust.

Read more on BBC

But with the United States shunning the event and appetite for more climate ambition waning among other countries, Brazil is pushing for voluntary action at COP30.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

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