haunting
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
-
(of memories) poignant or persistent
-
poignantly sentimental; enchantingly or eerily evocative
Other Word Forms
- hauntingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of haunting
Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; haunt, -ing 2, -ing 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Faith and modesty were qualities in all Heynis’s performances, delivered in a plaintive and haunting tone that is not quite like any other.
The sound from its strings, sweet and haunting and melodic, touches my soul.
From Literature
The river, at times hauntingly beautiful and others murky and unknowable, offers a mirror to Daniel's torment, and to the increasingly fragile hope of his wife, Agnieszka, that Chris will one day come home.
From Barron's
With only limited time for each storyline, “Young Mothers” surveys a cross-section of ills haunting these mothers.
From Los Angeles Times
The attraction is in the haunting texture of the picture, its delicate, breathy wonder.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
