Synonyms for shun

Most common

banish · ban · cast out · blackball · avoid · evade

Synonyms by meaning

Verb

Antonyms

employ, pursue, participate

All antonyms of shun →

Definitions

1. v. 1

   To avoid, especially persistently; ostracize.

   Acrophobes shun mountaineering.

2. v. 2

   To escape (a threatening evil, an unwelcome task etc).

   I'll shun meeting them for as long as possible.

Related words

Word family

shunless

Forms

Past participle

shunned
e.g. shunned → ostracized, banished, banned, blackballed…

Example sentences

• ban Saudi Arabia will remove the ban on women driving.
• banish I've tried to banish the memory of him crying.
• avoid She started early in order to avoid the rush hour.
• evade Being born of it, you cannot evade its principles.

Popularity over time

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters

ban¹

4 letters

balk¹

5 letters

avoid², dodge¹, evade², elude², baulk

6 letters

banish², eschew²

7 letters

decline², forbear

9 letters

blacklist², blackball², ostracize³, ostracise

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (avoid² = 2 syllables).