Library / English Dictionary

HAUNT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A frequently visited place

Synonyms:

hangout; haunt; repair; resort; stamping ground

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("haunt" is a kind of...):

area; country (a particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "haunt"):

gathering place (a favorite haunt where people gather)

Derivation:

haunt (be a regular or frequent visitor to a certain place)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Haunt like a ghost; pursue

Example:

Fear of illness haunts her

Synonyms:

ghost; haunt; obsess

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "haunt" is one way to...):

preoccupy (engage or engross the interest or attention of beforehand or occupy urgently or obsessively)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The good news will haunt her

The performance is likely to haunt Sue

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be a regular or frequent visitor to a certain place

Example:

She haunts the ballet

Synonyms:

frequent; haunt

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "haunt" is one way to...):

travel to; visit (go to certain places as for sightseeing)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "haunt"):

hang out (spend time in a certain location or with certain people)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

haunt (a frequently visited place)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Follow stealthily or recur constantly and spontaneously to

Example:

the ghost of her mother haunted her

Synonyms:

haunt; stalk

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "haunt" is one way to...):

follow; pursue (follow in or as if in pursuit)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

I feel a wonderful peace and rest to-night. It is as if some haunting presence were removed from me. Perhaps ...

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“Roddy,” said he, “have you heard that Cliffe Royal is haunted?”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We know, on the contrary, that he has so much of both, that he is glad to get rid of them at the idlest haunts in the kingdom.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Even in the night, in his dreams, he was haunted by this fear.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

From that time forward, Mr. Utterson began to haunt the door in the by-street of shops.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

How that personage haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

In ways subtler than they knew, they betrayed their intentions to the wolf-dog that haunted the cabin-stoop, and that, though he never came inside the cabin, knew what went on inside their brains.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Water-swept and aslant, it was preferable to the noisome, rat-haunted dungeons which served as cabins.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It seemed a glow to him, a warm and trailing vapor, ever beyond his reaching, though sometimes he was rewarded by catching at shreds of it and weaving them into phrases that echoed in his brain with haunting notes or drifted across his vision in misty wafture of unseen beauty.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

To raise your spirits, moreover, she gives you reason to suppose that the part of the abbey you inhabit is undoubtedly haunted, and informs you that you will not have a single domestic within call.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)