SHUN (shunned, shunning)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: shunned    , shunning   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shun mean? 

• SHUN (verb)
  The verb SHUN has 2 senses:

1. avoid and stay away from deliberately; stay clear of

2. expel from a community or group

  Familiarity information: SHUN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHUN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they shun    ... he / she / it shuns   
Past simple: shunned   
Past participle: shunned   
-ing form: shunning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Avoid and stay away from deliberately; stay clear of

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

eschew; shun

Hypernyms (to "shun" is one way to...):

avoid (stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

shunning (deliberately avoiding; keeping away from or preventing from happening)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Expel from a community or group

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

ban; banish; blackball; cast out; ostracise; ostracize; shun

Hypernyms (to "shun" is one way to...):

expel; kick out; throw out (force to leave or move out)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

He looked alarmed, and his eyes shunned mine.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was a man of singular habits, shunning company and very seldom going out.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So you shun me? —you shut yourself up and grieve alone!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Above all, shun the snares of women, for they are ever set for the foolish feet of the young.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was most probable that it was because I had laid over the clamps of those doors garlic, which the Un-Dead cannot bear, and other things which they shun.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I will not have this room shunned as if it were infected, at the pleasure of a child.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He was not prone to rashness and precipitate action; and in the bitter hatred between him and Spitz he betrayed no impatience, shunned all offensive acts.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

It was all lighted up an' shining, an' it shun right into me an' lighted me up inside, like the sun or a searchlight.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I involuntarily shunned the thought of it, and yet the thought continually arose in my mind like a haunting spectre.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)