shun
verb (used with object)
to keep away from (a place, person, object, etc.), from motives of dislike, caution, etc.; take pains to avoid.
shun
1 American
[shuhn]
/ ʃʌn /
verb (used with object)
-
shuns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shunned,
past participle, past
-
shunning
present participle
Shun
2
American
[shoon]
/ ʃun /
noun
Wade-Giles, Pinyin.
'shun
1
British
/ ʃʌn /
interjection
shun
2
British
/ ʃʌn /
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
shunsimple
-
shunssimple
-
have shunnedperfect
-
has shunnedperfect
-
am shunningprogressive
-
are shunningprogressive
-
is shunningprogressive
-
have been shunningperfect progressive
-
has been shunningperfect progressive
Past
-
shunnedsimple
-
had shunnedperfect
-
was shunningprogressive
-
were shunningprogressive
-
had been shunningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shun
First recorded before 950; Middle English shunen, Old English scunian “to avoid, fear”
Explanation
If you purposely stay away from someone, you shun that person. A sensitive baker may ask why you are shunning her cookies. Although the verb shun means to deliberately avoid anything, it has a specific meaning in certain groups and communities. In this case, it means to ostracize or expel from that group or community. The Amish, for example, may shun members of their order who repeatedly ignore the beliefs and rules of Amish society. The word may also be used in more casual group settings. After many attempts at being polite, you and your friends began to shun the obnoxious classmate who never let you get a word in edgewise.
Vocabulary lists containing shun
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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Persepolis
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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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:
He was struck by the young man’s thoughtfulness and, in an era of relentless self-branding, his tendency to shun attention and listen more than he spoke.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Cat said that while many teenagers shun spending time with their parents, she knows first-hand how lonely it is to not have your parents around.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
The universe, it’s all mathematics and science, and I shouldn’t shun the science of music just because I think the inspiration is all it should be.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
Nor should it shun folks from the baking community.
From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2026
Shuttled from one specialist to the next, the girl had been prescribed to shun garlic, consume disproportionate quantities of bitters, meditate, drink green coconut water, and swallow raw duck’s eggs beaten in milk.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Shun short-term trading, and stay away from exotic funds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Japanese bronze medallist Shun Sato on Friday blamed the "toxic schedule" of Olympic men's figure skating for US favourite Ilia Malinin's shocking slump off the podium.
From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026
Sumler, who was known as Chicago Mike, had performed Sunday evening in Mableton, Ga., with the group Con Funk Shun, whose Michael Cooper paid tribute to Sumler on social media.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2025
A search and rescue operation is underway to find the remaining six Burmese sailors who were reported missing after their Tanzania-flagged cargo ship Fu Shun went down off the northern coast of Taiwan.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2024
Oh, Shun, you scarce can think of the Panic this Word occasioned.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
The national temperament is cautious and bent to 'shun the falsehood of extremes.'
From The Winning of Popular Government A Chronicle of the Union of 1841 by Archibald MacMechan
Scott follows an almost entirely vegan diet, shuns processed foods, and prefers to fast in the mornings.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2026
“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.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2025
Kouki said he likes using his phone to watch Japanese baseball highlights, but the family now shuns screens during mealtimes.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2025
Its executives say it only does deals in jurisdictions such as the U.S. and Bermuda and that it shuns places like the Cayman Islands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2025
And yet, whenever his pain made him harden his heart against her and bid himself, “Milk the ewe you have; why pursue what shuns you?”
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Vote counting was under way early Friday after an unusual English by-election shunned by mainstream parties, pitting influential hard-right leader Nigel Farage against Count Binface, a man with a rubbish bin on his head.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Political parties have traditionally shunned meddling in races where they lack a candidate of their own, experts said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
Lenders had shunned the category just a few years ago, with investors and analysts warning of a wave of defaults.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Once she settles in, the girl befriends other spirits and wins them over with her acceptance and understanding — including a few shunned by everyone else, like the famous No-Face.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Even at the Wall, it was common knowledge that Stannis Baratheon had shunned his wife for years.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Traditionally, he says, men "almost need a bit of a scare" to start trying to shed the pounds, seeing it as something private and shunning the more social approach some women prefer, like slimming clubs.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
I remember thinking her diatribe about the injustice of Hester Prynne’s shunning would segue into the cruelties Charles faced with the goal of inspiring someone to defy the blacklist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
Other topics we delve into include the workers shunning the AI revolution, sperm health and how to get your kids to love golf.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
And Sass isn’t even completely shunning the Magnificent Seven.
From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026
I thought about shunning her for temporarily forgetting about me, but what good would that do?
From "Kira-Kira" by Cynthia Kadohata
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.
