as in avoids
to get or keep away from (as a responsibility) through cleverness or trickery
just a ruse to shun the debt collectors
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Recent Examples of shuns
Mitski lies on the lawn looking at the girl leaving her, like the witch in Into the Woods when Rapunzel shuns her and then gets promptly trampled by a giant.
—
Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 16 Jan. 2026
The unfortunate truth is that the agency has lost its way and shuns innovation.
—Ross Marchand, Baltimore Sun, 14 Jan. 2026
Vanya is a closeted gay man who shuns intimacy and Sonia is a neurotic spinster who feels unnoticed and unloved.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Oct. 2025
Laugh is the kind of rap mastery that shuns maximalism for pristine, unadorned poetics.
—Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 29 Aug. 2025
Instead of a tale of entrapment or escape, Ruth is a story about how a woman full of longing can operate inside a collective that shuns the very notion of wanting.
—Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2025
Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 16 Jan. 2026
The unfortunate truth is that the agency has lost its way and shuns innovation.
—Ross Marchand, Baltimore Sun, 14 Jan. 2026
Vanya is a closeted gay man who shuns intimacy and Sonia is a neurotic spinster who feels unnoticed and unloved.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Oct. 2025
Laugh is the kind of rap mastery that shuns maximalism for pristine, unadorned poetics.
—Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 29 Aug. 2025
Instead of a tale of entrapment or escape, Ruth is a story about how a woman full of longing can operate inside a collective that shuns the very notion of wanting.
—Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shuns
Verb
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Bian Ximing, who avoids the limelight and spends much of his time in Gibraltar, has made nearly $3 billion from bullish bets on Shanghai Futures Exchange gold contracts since early 2022.—
Alfred Cang,
Fortune,
5 Feb. 2026
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Legal closure, unresolved debates With the misdemeanor plea now entered, Kamau avoids a felony conviction and the uncertainty of a jury trial.—
Zachary Bynum,
CBS News,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Experts who spoke to Flow Space are hopeful that these new approvals will provide the necessary tools to treat a disease that evades treatment by constantly mutating.—
Helen Carefoot,
Flow Space,
16 Dec. 2025
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In the film, Sea-Based X-Band Radar detects a missile flying across the Pacific Ocean toward Chicago that later evades interception.—
Ryan Chan,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Unlike nitrogen, which easily escapes from soil into the air or groundwater, phosphorus sticks to soil particles.—
Dinesh Phuyal,
The Conversation,
26 Jan. 2026
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When air leaks through that shell, heated or cooled air escapes, and the HVAC system has to work harder to keep up.—
Brynn Cooksey,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shuns.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shuns. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
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