Haunt

Podcast 1 · Introduction

Haunt

A documentary-style narration: origin, meaning, and feel.

Part of speech

verb and noun

Pronunciation

hawnt  /hɔːnt/

Definition

As a verb: (of a ghost) to visit or inhabit a place; to visit or appear to regularly; to be persistently present in the thoughts or memory; to trouble or distress persistently. As a noun: a place visited frequently; a place associated with a ghost or supernatural presence.

Plain meaning

To haunt means to persistently visit or disturb — a ghost haunts a house, a memory haunts a person, a question haunts a career. A haunt is a place you return to regularly — your old haunts — or a place associated with ghosts.

Register

Neutral to literary. The ghost sense is well-established in everyday English. The metaphorical sense — persistently troubling — is widely used in journalism, literary criticism, and everyday speech. Haunting as an adjective implies a quality of beautiful, persistent disturbance.