shun
verbattested in dialogue
- Ireland//ʃʊn//
- //ʃʌn//
To avoid, especially persistently; ostracize.
verb
- 1
To avoid, especially persistently; ostracize.
Acrophobes shun mountaineering.
British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.
- 2
To escape (a threatening evil, an unwelcome task etc).
I'll shun meeting them for as long as possible.
- 3
To screen, hide.
- 4
To shove, push.
Etymology
From Middle English schonen (“to decline to do, avoid, fear”), from Old English sċunian (“to shun, fear, avoid”), of uncertain origin, though probably ultimately connected to the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)kewH- (“to cover, conceal”) via Proto-Germanic *skunōną; see that entry for more discussion. Compare hide, shy, and Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “to cover”).
Forms
- past tense
- shunned
- past participle
- shunned
- present participle
- shunning
- third person singular
- shuns
shun · To avoid, especially persistently; ostracize.
shush · To be quiet; to keep quiet.Shush · A city in Khuzestan Province, Iran, site of ancient Susa.shushing · The act of making a shush sound to silence somebody.