haunt

1 of 2

verb

ˈhȯnt 

ˈhänt

haunted; haunting; haunts

transitive verb

1

a

: to visit often : frequent

spends a lot of time haunting bookstores

b

: to continually seek the company of

haunting celebrities

impostors that haunt the official in foreign ports

—Van Wyck Brooks

2

a

: to have a disquieting or harmful effect on : trouble

problems we ignore now will come back to haunt us

b

: to recur constantly and spontaneously to

the tune haunted her

c

: to reappear continually in

a sense of tension that haunts his writing

3

: to visit or inhabit as a ghost

believed that the house was haunted

Spirits are supposed to haunt the places where their bodies most resorted …

—Charles Dickens

intransitive verb

1

: to stay around or persist : linger

a haunting fragrance

2

: to appear habitually as a ghost

not far from … where she haunted appeared for a short time a much more remarkable spirit

—W. B. Yeats

haunter noun

hauntingly

ˈhȯn-tiŋ-lē 

ˈhän-

adverb

haunt

2 of 2

noun

ˈhȯnt 

ˈhänt,

 sense 2 is usually  ˈhant

1

: a place habitually frequented

a favorite haunt of college kids

2

chiefly dialectal : ghost

Synonyms

Verb

• affect
• frequent
• habituate
• hang (at)
• resort (to)
• visit

Noun

• hangout
• purlieu
• rendezvous
• resort
• stamping ground
• stomping ground

Examples of haunt in a Sentence

Verb

Some people believe that the ghost of an old sea captain haunts the beach.

If you ignore the problem, it will come back to haunt you.

Their failure to plan ahead is now coming back to haunt them.

The tune haunted me all day.

Noun

The restaurant became one of her favorite haunts.

one of their favorite after-school haunts is Joe's Pizza

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Lining up for the Bavarians was the all too familiar face of England striker Harry Kane, who consistently haunted the Gunners during his nine years playing for Tottenham Hotspur. —Matias Grez, CNN, 10 Apr. 2024

And having a cup of coffee in the middle of the afternoon can come back to haunt you at bedtime. —Carly Weeks, TIME, 10 Apr. 2024

At the same time, our hero is also haunted by the murder of his mom and a traumatic childhood, which fuels Kid’s mission of vengeance to take down those responsible. —Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 4 Apr. 2024

Just as Khaled and his friends struggle under the weight of their past lives, My Friends is also haunted by the ghosts of Matar’s early work. —Hazlitt, 3 Apr. 2024

While Arthur remains haunted by sundrenched visions of Beniamina, Italia is occupied with what’s in front of her, namely the search for a place to call home and a chance at a future. —Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2024

Parents worried about their kids saying or doing something foolish that, if captured and circulated via smartphone, would haunt them for the rest of their lives. —Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2024

Though the final season of the flagship series lacked a strong villainous hook, its penultimate year was haunted by Samantha Morton’s terrifying Alpha, queen of the Whisperers, and the woman who brought the AMC zombie drama back to form under the brilliant leadership of showrunner Angela Kang. —Josh Wigler, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Mar. 2024

Hyder just hopes the photos don't come back to haunt her. —Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY, 28 Mar. 2024

Noun

While Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire features the return of some old haunts (hi, Slimer!), the latest installment also introduces fans to a whole new gang of ghouls ready to make their mark on Manhattan. —EW.com, 25 Mar. 2024

First, there’s Explore, which is all about local haunts. —PCMAG, 21 Mar. 2024

There still are plenty of cut-rate, ski-bum haunts – lodging encircling the elegant 968 Park include the Paradice Motel, the Black Jack Inn and the Mark Twain Lodge – and a Burger King remains cleverly disguised in Heavenly Village near a fancy new Latin restaurant, Azul. —Sacramento Bee, 30 Jan. 2024

There is something bigger than beer brewing at the Francis Kite Club, a new haunt in the East Village whose artists hold performances, shape its programming and debate politics from their barstools. —Zachary Small, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2024

Moves in the Field [Warp] On her latest album of sweeping piano compositions, Kelly Moran taps into a strand of modern classical that mesmerizes and haunts, with occasional, breathtaking lurches to disturb the air of sanctuary. —Madison Bloom, Pitchfork, 29 Mar. 2024

Here are some of his go-to haunts while in the city. —Leslie Kelly, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024

Darwin attributed their tameness to a lack of predators and large nonnative ungulates in their native haunts. —Louis Sahagún, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2024

Then there are all these carousels of Hadid on ranches in Texas: a far cry from her normal haunts of New York City or Los Angeles. —Vogue, 13 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English haunten, hanten "to frequent, frequent the company of, dwell in, engage in, practice (a vice or virtue), perform," borrowed from Anglo-French hanter, haunter (also continental Old French), of uncertain origin

Note: The origin of the French word has been much argued over in the past century and a half. Given the initial h aspiré (meaning the initial h was pronounced into early modern French and still blocks elision of preceding vowels), the word has usually been given a Germanic source. Perhaps most frequently it has been traced to the Old Norse verb reflected in Old Icelandic heimta "to draw, pull, call on, claim, crave, get back, recover," despite semantic and phonetic objections. Also proffered has been a presumed Old Low Franconian *haimiþōn "to shelter, accommodate." Both etyma are derivatives of Germanic *haima- "dwelling" (see home entry 1). The possibility of a spoken Latin source has been revived in Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (on line), which suggests *ambitāre, from Latin ambitus "circuit" (see ambit)—see full discussion and bibliography there.

Noun

Middle English haunt, hant "frequent visiting, resort, a place frequented, habitual practice of something, usage," borrowed from Anglo-French hant, haunt, derivative of hanter "to frequent, haunt entry 1"

First Known Use

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing haunt

• come back to haunt

Kids Definition

haunt

1 of 2 verb

ˈhȯnt 

ˈhänt

1

: to visit often : frequent

they haunted the antique shops

2

a

: to have a disturbing or harmful effect on

problems we ignore now will come back to haunt us

b

: to come back to the mind of again and again

the song haunted me all day

3

: to visit or live in as a ghost

spirits haunted the house

haunter noun

hauntingly

-iŋ-lē 

adverb

haunt

2 of 2 noun

ˈhȯnt 

ˈhänt

: a place repeatedly visited