haunted
- inhabited or frequented by ghosts: a haunted castle.
- preoccupied, as with an emotion, memory, or idea; obsessed: His haunted imagination gave him no peace.
- disturbed; distressed; worried: Haunted by doubt he again turned to law books on the subject.
Origin of haunted
haunt
- to visit habitually or appear to frequently as a spirit or ghost: to haunt a house; to haunt a person.
- to recur persistently to the consciousness of; remain with: Memories of love haunted him.
- to visit frequently; go to often: He haunted the galleries and bars that the artists went to.
- to frequent the company of; be often with: He haunted famous men, hoping to gain celebrity for himself.
- to disturb or distress; cause to have anxiety; trouble; worry: His youthful escapades came back to haunt him.
- to reappear continually as a spirit or ghost.
- to visit habitually or regularly.
- to remain persistently; loiter; stay; linger.
- Often haunts. a place frequently visited: to return to one's old haunts.
- Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. and North England. a ghost.
Origin of haunt
Synonyms
See more synonyms for haunt on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for haunted
Contemporary Examples
He read technical journals about film and haunted the theaters and film production companies.
Even though the police and my family and friends believed me, that one voice of doubt is the one that haunted me most.
Were Israeli soldiers so haunted by what they saw and did in the last Gaza war that they took their own lives?
The Lotus and the Storm turns out to be a grand, haunted melodrama with elements of camp, delivered in fragmentary reveries.
Or go to Mougins and get a local realtor to tell you stories of Edith Piaf's haunted house.
Historical Examples
I am haunted by the thought that my car may break down when I have a load of wounded.
Ballads of a BohemianRobert W. Service
The dread of French domination seems to have haunted him like a nightmare.
Biographical SketchesNathaniel Hawthorne
It haunted him every moment, and added to the weight of sorrow which seemed crushing him.
Life in LondonEdwin Hodder
Her very brain and blood were haunted with the presence of Corney's father.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
The phrase has haunted me since I heard it, less than an hour ago.
In the Midst of AlarmsRobert Barr
haunted
- frequented or visited by ghosts
- (postpositive) obsessed or worried
haunt
- to visit (a person or place) in the form of a ghost
- (tr) to intrude upon or recur to (the memory, thoughts, etc)he was haunted by the fear of insanity
- to visit (a place) frequently
- to associate with (someone) frequently
- (often plural) a place visited frequentlyan old haunt of hers
- a place to which animals habitually resort for food, drink, shelter, etc
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for haunted
haunt
n.
"place frequently visited," c.1300, also in Middle English, "habit, custom" (early 14c.), from haunt (v.). The meaning "spirit that haunts a place, ghost" is first recorded 1843, originally in stereotypical U.S. black speech.
haunt
v.
early 13c., "to practice habitually, busy oneself with, take part in," from Old French hanter "to frequent, resort to, be familiar with" (12c.), probably from Old Norse heimta "bring home," from Proto-Germanic *haimat-janan, from *haimaz- (see home). Meaning "to frequent (a place)" is c.1300 in English. Use in reference to a spirit returning to the house where it had lived perhaps was in Proto-Germanic, but it was reinforced by Shakespeare's plays, and it is first recorded 1590 in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Related: Haunted; haunting. Middle English hauntingly meant "frequently;" sense of "so as to haunt one's thoughts or memory" is from 1859.