Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

shunless

/ˈʃʌnləs/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: shun-less
IPA: /ˈʃʌnləs/

11

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

That cannot be shunned; not to be avoided; inevitable, unavoidable.

Literary

Example Sentences

"Th' immortal Parcæ, fatal sisters three, / Of mortal men, do sing the shunless fate: / What once Was, what Is now, and what Shall Be, / Their life, their death, their fortune, and their state."
"[A]lone he entred / The mortall Gate of th'Citie, which he painted / With ſhunleſſe deſtinie: […]"
"[T]he many still would cling / To toil and tears—to life and suffering; / And some, whose anguish might not brook to wait / That shunless doom, plunged headlong to their fate: […]"
"They oft / The sway of his red club, the shunless aim / Of his dreadful bow, and wasting tomahawk, / Had felt; […]"
"As for mine own dear life, O king, and thy most kingly head, / I tremble; since this cloud of war stout Hector rolleth o'er us / Dread-darkling; and perdition yawns with shunless gape before us."
"O, greatest of shame! / O, shunless disgrace! / God's distress! God's distress! / Endless regret! Infinite grief! / The saddest am I among all men!"

Etymology

From shun + -less (suffix meaning ‘lacking, without’), probably popularized by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616) by its use in his play Coriolanus (c. 1608–1609): see the quotation.

Word Breakdown

Suffix: shun

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈʃʌnləs/
British English: /ˈʃʌnləs/

Usage

Literary

Inflected Forms

more shunless (comparative) most shunless (superlative)

Frequently Paired Words

shun shunnable shunner unshunnable

Synonyms

unignorable unshunnable

Antonyms

avoidable ignorable shunnable

Questions

How do you pronounce shunless?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈʃʌnləs/.
What does shunless mean?: That cannot be shunned; not to be avoided; inevitable, unavoidable.
Where does shunless come from?: From shun + -less (suffix meaning ‘lacking, without’), probably popularized by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616) by its use in his play Coriolanus (c. 1608–1609): see the quotation.

How to pronounce shunless

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “shunless”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈʃʌnləs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “shunless”.
Repeat and practice — Say “shunless” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.