Dune Meaning
/djuːn/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA ridge or hill of sand piled up by currents of wind or water.
Sentence Examples
We walked on the dune.
From the tall dune I could see over the whole island.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The camel climbed the sandy ____ under the scorching desert sun.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We walked on the ____.
Word Origin & History
Partly from a dialectal form of down; and partly from Dutch duin (from Middle Dutch dune) or from Middle Low German dûne; all ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *dūn, *dūnā, of uncertain origin; possibly from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (“stronghold, rampart”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰuHnom (“enclosure”), from *dʰewh₂- (“to finish, come full circle”). Doublet of down (which see).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Heavy line segments (lengthened for clarity) indicate locations of deep-sea dunes."
— 1975, Texas A & M University. College of Geosciences, Contributions in Oceanography:
"In the early 2000s, space probes [confirmed Mars as] having dunes […] Their shapes are identical to their Saharan cousins', but they are ten times bigger. In contrast, underwater dunes are a hundred times smaller than their counterparts on solid ground. This universality of dunes is a blessing for physicists: their comparative study confirmed the models that describe the formation of dunes on Earth."
— 2021 February 23, Etienne Guyon, Jose Bico, Etienne Reyssat, Benoit Roman, Hidden Wonders: The Subtle Dialogue Between Physics and Elegance, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 257:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The camel climbed the sandy ____ under the scorching desert sun.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We walked on the ____.