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
Emma Kershaw, Forbes.com, 4 June 2025
Our walk was a saunter, a delightful, wayward, exploratory street haunting, to use Virginia Woolf’s term for the adventure and discovery of walking in the city.
—Sarah Beckwith, New Yorker, 26 May 2025
Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 30 May 2025
Guth landed on a more haunting and ambiguous image: Salome walking into a luminous mist, leaving mad reality behind.
—Alex Ross, New Yorker, 19 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for haunting
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Noun
The series presents stylized human forms with vibrant emotion — some whimsical and some haunting — all uniquely rendered.
—Emma Kershaw, Forbes.com, 4 June 2025
Our walk was a saunter, a delightful, wayward, exploratory street haunting, to use Virginia Woolf’s term for the adventure and discovery of walking in the city.
—Sarah Beckwith, New Yorker, 26 May 2025
Adjective
Turns out, after a haunting 4-3 loss in the 2024 Memorial Cup championship to the Saginaw Spirit, Cowan had a lot left to learn and to gain in his game.
—Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 30 May 2025
Guth landed on a more haunting and ambiguous image: Salome walking into a luminous mist, leaving mad reality behind.
—Alex Ross, New Yorker, 19 May 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 10 Jun. 2025.
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