Meanings
present singular third person shuns · participle present shunning · participle past shunned · past shunned
- transitiveTo avoid, especially persistently; ostracize.
Acrophobes shun mountaineering.
1 more example
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.
2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848Synonyms: blacklist
- transitiveTo escape (a threatening evil, an unwelcome task etc).
I'll shun meeting them for as long as possible.
- transitiveTo shove, push.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo avoid, especially persistently; ostracize.
More synonyms by meaning
verbexpel from a community or group
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*skunōną
- Old Englishsċunian“to shun, fear, avoid”
- Middle Englishschonen“to decline to do, avoid, fear”
- Englishshun
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian отбягвам, Избягвам
- отбягвам (otbjagvam)to avoid, ostracize
- Избягвам (Izbjagvam)to escape
Chinese Mandarin 畏避
- 畏避 (wèibì)to avoid, ostracize
Czech vyhnout se, vyhýbat se
- vyhnout seto avoid, ostracize
- vyhýbat seto avoid, ostracize
- uniknoutto escape
- unikatto escape
- zakrýtto screen, hide
- zakrývatto screen, hide
- ukrýtto screen, hide
- ukrývatto screen, hide
- schovatto screen, hide
Danish sky
- skyto avoid, ostracize
Dutch ontwijken, vermijden
- ontwijkento avoid, ostracize
- vermijdento avoid, ostracize
Esperanto eviti
- evitito avoid, ostracize
Finnish karttaa
- karttaato avoid, ostracize
French éviter, rejeter
- éviterto avoid, ostracize
- rejeterto avoid, ostracize
- fuirto escape
- esquiverto escape
German aus dem Weg gehen, ausweichen
- aus dem Weg gehento avoid, ostracize
- ausweichento avoid, ostracize
- meidento avoid, ostracize
- scheuento avoid, ostracize
- vermeidento avoid, ostracize
- ausstoßento avoid, ostracize
- ausschließento avoid, ostracize
- flüchtento escape
- ausweichento escape
- umgehento escape
- aus dem Weg gehento escape
- entkommento escape
Greek αποφεύγω, αποφεύγω
- αποφεύγω (apofévgo)to avoid, ostracize
- αποφεύγω (apofévgo)to escape
Hungarian kerül, elkerül
- kerülto avoid, ostracize
- elkerülto avoid, ostracize
- visszariadto avoid, ostracize
Italian evitare, detestare
- evitareto avoid, ostracize
- detestareto avoid, ostracize
- schivareto escape
- eludereto escape
- stigmatizzareto screen, hide
Japanese 忌む, 忌避する
- 忌む (imu)to avoid, ostracize
- 忌避する (kihi suru)to avoid, ostracize
Latin ēvītō
- ēvītōto avoid, ostracize
Norwegian unngå, sky
- unngåto avoid, ostracize
- skyto avoid, ostracize
Polish unikać, stronić
- unikaćto avoid, ostracize
- stronićto avoid, ostracize
Portuguese evitar
- evitarto avoid, ostracize
Romanian evita, evada
- evitato avoid, ostracize
- evadato escape
- ascundeto screen, hide
- împingeto shove, push
Russian избега́ть, избежа́ть
- избега́ть (izbegátʹ)to avoid, ostracize
- избежа́ть (izbežátʹ)to avoid, ostracize
- сторони́ться (storonítʹsja)to avoid, ostracize
- остерега́ться (osteregátʹsja)to avoid, ostracize
- бере́чься (beréčʹsja)to avoid, ostracize
- избега́ть (izbegátʹ)to escape
- избежа́ть (izbežátʹ)to escape
Slovak vyhýbať sa, strániť sa
- vyhýbať sato avoid, ostracize
- strániť sato avoid, ostracize
- utekaťto escape
Spanish evitar
- evitarto avoid, ostracize
Swedish sky, skygga
- skyto avoid, ostracize
- skyggato avoid, ostracize
Thai กีดกัน
- กีดกันto avoid, ostracize
Turkish kaçınmak, sakınmak
- kaçınmakto avoid, ostracize
- sakınmakto avoid, ostracize
- uzak durmakto avoid, ostracize
- kaçmakto escape
Ukrainian цура́тися, остеріга́тися
- цура́тися (curátysja)to avoid, ostracize
- остеріга́тися (osterihátysja)to avoid, ostracize
- уника́ти (unykáty)to avoid, ostracize
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with shun
All rhymes →Cite this entry
shun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shun
“shun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shun. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shun,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shun.
Source: shun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.