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
Examples of haunting in a Sentence
Adjective
the haunting tones of the Highland bagpipes
Recent Examples on the Web
Helen Shaw, New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2025
With her own haunting intensifying, Cora must learn a lot before the ghost festival starts in two days.
—Gabino Iglesias, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2025
Vulture Editors, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2025
With a limited color palette and very spare design, the show subverts the commonplace elements of an office and invents a haunting visual language all its own that creeps you out while drawing you in.
—Charlotte Collins, Architectural Digest, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for haunting
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Noun
Jordan—physically static, but vocally free—flourishes when performing this kind of soaring music, and, in Nellie’s numbers, McAlpine’s haunting, Joni Mitchell timbre drifts beautifully down around him, the only warmth in a landscape growing increasingly wet and cold.
—Helen Shaw, New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2025
With her own haunting intensifying, Cora must learn a lot before the ghost festival starts in two days.
—Gabino Iglesias, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2025
Adjective
This is a haunting, unpredictable novel that’s hard to shake after reading.
—Vulture Editors, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2025
With a limited color palette and very spare design, the show subverts the commonplace elements of an office and invents a haunting visual language all its own that creeps you out while drawing you in.
—Charlotte Collins, Architectural Digest, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for haunting
Cite this Entry
“Haunting.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/haunting. Accessed 2 May. 2025.
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