plural hauntings
: an act of haunting
especially
: visitation or inhabitation by a ghost
… its early history is replete with drama: duels, murders, shipwrecks, … even ghostly hauntings. —
Sally Gibson
Sally Gibson When asked about hauntings on Tuesday's tour, [Albert] Walavich said he knew he would get a question about ghosts on Halloween, but he doesn't believe any haunt the grounds. —Taylor Hartz
Taylor Hartz
: having qualities (such as sadness or beauty) that linger in the memory : not easily forgotten
a haunting melody
haunting images
… pale, branchless tree trunks with a haunting, Georgia O'Keeffe quality …—Susannah Master
Susannah Masterhaunting
3 of 3present participle of haunt entry 1
Synonyms
Examples of haunting in a Sentence
Adjective
the haunting tones of the Highland bagpipes
Recent Examples on the Web
Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025
The reinvention still follows the familiar beats of Scrooge's Christmas haunting: Three ghosts, each representing Christmas past (Andy Serkis), present (Charlotte Riley), and future (Jason Flemyng) show the miserly businessman the error of his ways.
—Andrew Walsh, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2024
Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 5 Feb. 2025
Some of the most powerful images created as part of the mural initiative reside on a haunting, decayed block of Edison Concept Houses, constructed in 1913 by a subsidiary of U.S. Steel from inventor Thomas Edison’s patent for single-pour concrete homes.
—Patricia Leigh Brown, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Jan. 2025
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Noun
The movie is a metaphysical mystery, a sort of American gothic in which a warm and inviting old suburban house becomes the shivery site of a haunting, a confinement, and a menace.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025
The reinvention still follows the familiar beats of Scrooge's Christmas haunting: Three ghosts, each representing Christmas past (Andy Serkis), present (Charlotte Riley), and future (Jason Flemyng) show the miserly businessman the error of his ways.
—Andrew Walsh, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2024
Adjective
Brody — still mostly unknown in Hollywood — got sick at the beginning of production, lost 30 pounds and poured himself into the haunting role of the virtuoso.
—Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 5 Feb. 2025
Some of the most powerful images created as part of the mural initiative reside on a haunting, decayed block of Edison Concept Houses, constructed in 1913 by a subsidiary of U.S. Steel from inventor Thomas Edison’s patent for single-pour concrete homes.
—Patricia Leigh Brown, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for haunting
Dictionary Entries Near haunting
Cite this Entry
“Haunting.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/haunting. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
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