dun
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
A collector of debts.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
duhnIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdʌn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
countable
A collector of debts, especially one who is insistent and demanding.
An urgent request or demand of payment.
Horse of a dull brownish grey color
A brownish grey colour.
countable
A newly hatched, immature mayfly; a mayfly subimago.
An ancient or medieval fortification; especially a hill-fort in Scotland or Ireland.
verb
Persistently ask for overdue payment
“The grocer dunned his customers every day by telephone.”
transitive
To ask or beset a debtor for payment.
transitive
To harass by continually repeating e.g. a request.
adjective
Of a brownish grey colour.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Horse of a dull brownish grey color
Used this way, dun is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Lightly hairy rhizomatous perennial having aromatic feathery leaves and stems bearing open clusters of small buttonlike yellow flowers.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.