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
Altman is a booster for San Francisco, advising its mayor and expanding OpenAI’s offices here, while Musk shuns the city and now lives in Texas.
—
David Ingram, NBC news, 26 Apr. 2026
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
David Ingram, NBC news, 26 Apr. 2026
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shuns
Verb
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But the Morneaults take a route that intentionally avoids passing by the storefront on the western entrance to Pratt Street.—
Kenneth R. Gosselin,
Hartford Courant,
29 May 2026
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As a reminder, any candidate with more than 50% avoids a runoff.—
Adam Beam,
AJC.com,
28 May 2026
Verb
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In March, the French navy seized an oil tanker in the Mediterranean that Macron said belonged to Russia’s shadow fleet, which comprises several hundred tankers through which Russia evades sanctions.—
Joseph Ataman,
CNN Money,
1 June 2026
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At one point, Griffin appears to lunge at Manetta, who evades him by ducking behind a column on the platform.—
Colin Mixson,
New York Daily News,
1 May 2026
Verb
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Hellebuyck being Hellebuyck and a middle six that escapes its 2025-26 black hole and starts winning its minutes again.—
Murat Ates,
New York Times,
1 June 2026
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Aaron escapes his torturers, first by rooting himself in the town’s only movie theater open to Black people, and then by lying about his age and enlisting in the Navy at 16.—
Meredith Maran,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shuns.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shuns. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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