- present participle of haunt.
haunting
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
-
(of memories) poignant or persistent
-
poignantly sentimental; enchantingly or eerily evocative
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of haunting
Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at 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.
Yet the image of the male Viking warrior stubbornly lingers, drawing crowds while also haunting the galleries like a restless specter.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
In this case, the “fragment” was “The Unanswered Question,” Ives’s haunting meditation on existence, with a questing trumpet at its center.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
I can vividly recall the haunting aftertaste, the glorious specificity of the experience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
Here is a writer and director with not just plenty on his mind, but the preternatural proficiency to execute those ideas in haunting, humorous and really quite moving ways.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
Clearly this forest was a bad place, full of haunting phantasms.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
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.
