Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To avoid deliberately; keep away from. See Synonyms at escape.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To detest; abhor; shrink from.
- To go or keep away from; keep out of the neighborhood of; avoid.
- To try to escape from; attempt to elude, generally with success; hence, to evade; escape.
- To refrain from; eschew; neglect; refuse.
- To shove; push. Bailey, 1731; Halliwell.
- To shrink back; fall back; retreat.
- To avoid or evade danger or injury.
- To withhold action or participation; refrain, as from doing something.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To avoid, especially persistently.
- v. transitive To escape (a threatening evil, an unwelcome task etc).
- v. transitive To screen, hide.
- v. transitive To shove, push.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To avoid; to keep clear of; to get out of the way of; to escape from; to eschew.
WordNet 3.0
- v. expel from a community or group
- v. avoid and stay away from deliberately; stay clear of
Etymologies
- From Old English scunian. Cognate with Old Norse skunde/skynde ("to hasten"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English shunnen, from Old English scunian, to abhor. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Did anybody notice Palin shun Fey at the end of the show?”
“The thing I like about this list of records-to-shun is that it avoids the obvious targets (Manilow, Kenny G) and goes after worshipped bands like Nirvana and Green Day.”
“Most significantly, of course, Bishop's poem supplies the missing moral of Wordsworth's tale of a rural village's deliberate "shun" - ning of the outcast woman's loss and pain: "Love should be put into action!”
Elizabeth Bishop and the Wordsworth of _Lyrical Ballads_: Sentimentalism, Straw Men, and Misprision
“Shunning is a non-action -- to shun is to avoid, not to interact.”
The Huffington Post: Janice Harper: A Reason (and Season) to Stop Shunning
“However, Paladino was not the party leader's choice and he, too, will learn first hand what the word 'shun' means.”
The Huffington Post: Jerry Kremer: Shunning: The New GOP Mantra
“Also, it would appear that he's not fully cognizant of the meaning of "shun".”
The Huffington Post: Tallulah Morehead: Big Brother 12: The Puppetry of the Pea-Brains.
“Maybe its because the fans want Kristen and Rob to be together because they are our Bella and Edward, and maybe she has to kind of shun him to show that she is very happy in her current/long realtionship.”
“But by god, there were so many people willing to "shun" the "pike" that the road got a name.”
“Suits filed yesterday by the Arizona Attorney General against two restaurant owners raise the interesting question of how far members of religious groups can go in implementing a religious decision to excommunicate or "shun" a fellow member without violating civil rights laws.”
“His "Stind at ---- ice" electrified everyone; unlike poor old Aitken, whose staccato and rapid "Company company 'shun'" was never heard by anyone!”
The Fife and Forfar Yeomanry and 14th (F. & F. Yeo.) Battn. R.H. 1914-1919
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘shun’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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hunting
crudely, unequivocal, obsolete, obscure, overtly, misdeed, shack, inherent, outcry, hefty, composed, poised and 319 more...
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Duck!
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, or quacks like a duck, then you should probably list it here.
duck, Duck, turducken, duckling, duck tape, Mallard, rubber duckie, Daffy Duck, Donald Duck, lame duck, ducky, ducks and 95 more...
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EN - archaic words
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 328 more...
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Public List: Two by Fives
This is an experiment in public lists--something I've been thinking about for some time. The goal is to create a collection of short, powerful, evocative words.
This is an open list. A...icy, howl, hymn, thorn, fire, vile, mist, blunt, scum, dark, shot, gleam and 221 more...
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The weird, the wonderful and the plai...
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
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food collection
bread, peel, pot, chorizo, Filet, olive, fill, Phyllo, dough, bake, mat, pinot and 988 more...
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LIT - Odyssey - key words and phrases
Key words of the Odyssey by Homer in English including all those famous repeating epitethons like
"bright-eyed Athene"
"wine-dark sea"
"rosy-fingered dawn"
"long suf...Odysseus, sea, Athene, goddess, land, Achaean, wind, wave, Ithaca, lead, Poseidon, mortal and 732 more...
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Undo
A list of terms that denote separating one thing from another, or deconstructing a thing into its parts or to a former state. E.g., untie, divorce, unscramble.
untie, divorce, unscramble, disunite, disjoin, undo, separate, disassemble, uncouple, unhitch, disassociate, disaffiliate and 185 more...
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DAY1_01/04/2013
Alacrity, Prosaic, Veracity, Paucity, Maintain, Contrite, Laconic, Pugnacious, Disparate, Egregious, Innocuous, Candid and 48 more...
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GRE words Review
Review for GRE
Martinet, Polyglot, Hack, berate, hystrionics, shun, sullen, wanton, reluctant, miser, unseemly, perfunctory and 11 more...
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Do More Than Hate
A list of words for describing dislike, reproval or criticism.
belabor, malevolent, reprobate, ire, anger, rage, fury, choler, indignance, grame, scorn, geck and 23 more...
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Junk
walrus, fascination, broadway, fickle, downturn, bridge, gargle, rotunda, mesh, fab, shortlife, strumming and 304 more...
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Week 1, Day 1
ignominy, marquee, deter, chariot, stern, perfidy, treacherous, insolent, presumptuous, banish, dubious, livid and 133 more...
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wreckingball's Words
reprehensible, problematize, crepuscular, deleterious, pestilent, strumpet, draggletail, interrobang, meretricious, systematize, schadenfreude, capricious and 443 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for shun.
teengagegeek Shun the non-believer!
Shunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn...
N. Sep 24, 2008