Word
haunt
Meanings
to keep coming back to someone’s mind and cause worry, sadness, or guilt
to appear in a place as a ghost or in a mysterious, frightening way
to visit a place often or spend a lot of time there
Definition
To haunt means to repeatedly come to someone’s mind or to linger in a place as if by a ghost.
To haunt can describe a feeling, memory, or mistake that keeps returning to your thoughts and is hard to shake. It can also mean to visit a place often, or to be present there in a way that feels eerie, like a ghost. In everyday English, it is very common for regrets or images to “haunt” someone long after an event.
Examples
- I still feel that harsh comment can haunt me when I least expect it.
- The photographs began to haunt her, resurfacing in vivid detail whenever the room went quiet.
- A single unanswered question continued to haunt them long after the conference ended.
- He insisted the old theater was haunted, and every creak seemed to prove his point.
- You can’t let one poor decision haunt you forever; learn from it and move on.
Common mistake
Learners often confuse "haunt" with "hunt" in spelling and pronunciation, even though their meanings are unrelated.
More at C1 level
- ubiquitous Present, appearing, or found everywhere at the same time.
- xenophobia Xenophobia is a strong dislike or fear of people from other countries or cultures.
- genocide Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular group in order to …
- conundrum A conundrum is a confusing and difficult problem to solve.
- pretentious Trying to seem more important, intelligent, or cultured than you really are.
More verbs
- analyze To examine something carefully in order to understand it or explain it.
- scrutinize To scrutinize something is to examine it very carefully and in detail.
- affect To affect something is to influence it or cause it to change.
- allude To allude means to mention or suggest something indirectly without saying it clearly.
- elude To elude someone or something is to avoid being caught, understood, or remembered.