How to use dun in a sentence

24 example sentences · noun, adjective, verb

Dun means a brownish grey colour. Example: “Of all he had received from Lady Bellaston, not above five guineas remained and that very morning he had been dunned by a tradesman for twice that sum.”

Examples of dun by meaning

adjectiveOf a brownish grey colour.

Where is the nobility in these streets paved with greasy carbon and dun ash?2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: Terminal One (Legendary)

nounA collector of debts, especially one who is insistent and demanding.

Melancholy duns came looking for him at all hours.1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XVIII, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz...
‘Frank's worried about duns,’ she said as the butler went away.1970, John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse, New York, published 2007, page 102

verbTo ask or beset a debtor for payment.

Of all he had received from Lady Bellaston, not above five guineas remained and that very morning he had been dunned by a tradesman for twice that sum.

verbTo harass by continually repeating e.g. a request.

Rich bitches who had to be dunned for their milk bills would pay him right now.1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin, published 2010, page 107

nounA newly hatched, immature mayfly; a mayfly subimago.

Also, duns are dull and generally sober colored, whilst spinners are more brightly colored and shining and their wings are clear and transparent.1966, John Harris, An Angler's Entomology, New York: Barnes, →OCLC, page 16

nounA structure in the Orkney or Shetland islands or in Scotland consisting of a roundhouse surrounded by a circular wall...

Smaller than the broch was the dun, another type of stone-built 'roundhouse'.2013, T.J. Clarkson, The Makers of Scotland: Picts, Romans, Gaels and Vikings, Edinburgh: Birlinn, →ISBN

interjectionImitating a deep bass note, such as that found in suspenseful music.

How would you deal with that power? (Dun, dun, DUN!2009, Carrie Tucker, I Love Geeks: The Official Handbook, Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media, →ISBN
'DUN DUN DUN DUN-DUN-DUN-DUN!2016, Helen Russell, Leap Year: How small steps can make a giant difference

More sentences with dun

He asked his attorney to send her a dunning letter.From the entry dunning
Aiyah, dun ask me why their name all so funny, can or not?2023 September 8, Devyani Sharma, From Deficit to Dialect: The Evolution of English in India and Singapore, Oxford University Press, →ISBN. From the entry aiya
And dun think ah quah are all soft-soft, lembek-lembek type, can only give you girly slap, that kind.2020, Robert Phillips, Virtual Activism: Sexuality, the Internet, and a Social Movement in Singapore, page 109. From the entry lembek
Ya dun know, better start patterning now.2015 December 25, “BlukuByeByeBye” (track 3), in Rap vs Grime, performed by Chip. From the entry pattern
He dunned the European Union for cultural funds.2010 October 1, Michael Lewis, “Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds”, in Vanity Fair. From the entry dunned
She wouldn’t uncowl, for modesty she said, but let me ground her and lift dun shift to white shoulders.1972, John Barth, “Perseid”, in Chimera, New York: Fawcett Crest, page 103. From the entry uncowl
The afternoon sun painted amber patterns on the Turkey red hearthrug: the only splash of colour in the dun room.1936, Esmond Quinterley, Ushering Interlude, The Fortune Press, page 66. From the entry sloom
Dunning, a sister of the late Professor William A.1926 May 18, “Historical Essay Fund Left by Miss Dunning […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN…. From the entry Mathilde
Well, “dun dun dun dun” and “kua kua” are sama-sama because “kua kua” also at once casts real life as a movie.2015 August 26, Gwee Li Sui, Singapore English Archives- The Middle Ground SinGweesh on Wednesday: Kua Kua. From the entry sama-sama
Flora, initially an ivory-pale, dark-haired funest beauty, whom the author transformed just in time into a third bromidic dummy with a dun bun.1969Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, (Please provide the book title or journal name), Penguin, published 2011, page 264. From the entry funest
I am not going to tell you the exact locations of my stops, but my final destination (dun dun dun) is London, England.2006, H. M. Leathem, chapter 3, in W.T.F.?: What Is Wrong with Tom Faerie, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 22. From the entry dun dun dun
My date did asked though but I said no because for somebody who's not my stead and I dun feel there was a need to.1999 February 13, L.Angel, soc.culture.singapore (Usenet). From the entry stead
Bre means 'hill' in the Celtic tongue of the pre-Roman Britons, dun means the same thing in Anglo-Saxon, Hill hill-on-the-Hill, in fact.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 87, Breedon on the Hill. From the entry Breedon on the Hill
Dunning, for many years on the Faculty of Columbia University as Professor of History and Political Philosophy, was filed for probate yesterday.1926 May 18, “Historical Essay Fund Left by Miss Dunning […]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN…. From the entry Mathilde
There were probably other cathairs and duns on the Aran Islands which were not as sturdily built or not as well preserved as those that survived.1977, “The Dúns of Aran”, in A World of Stone: Life, Folklore and Legends of the Aran Islands, O’Brien Educational, published 1980, →ISBN…. From the entry cathair

Meaning of dun

noun A brownish grey colour.
adjective Of a brownish grey colour.
noun A collector of debts, especially one who is insistent and demanding.

Full definition of dun

Questions about dun in a sentence

How do you use dun in a sentence?: Dun is used as a noun, adjective and verb. For example: “Of all he had received from Lady Bellaston, not above five guineas remained and that very morning he had been dunned by a tradesman for twice that sum.”
What is a short sentence with dun?: “'DUN DUN DUN DUN-DUN-DUN-DUN!”
What does dun mean?: Dun means a brownish grey colour.

Adapted from Wiktionary: dun (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use dun in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/dun. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.