haunting
part of speech
verb, -ing form of haunt (haunt, haunts, haunted, haunting); adjective (haunting, more haunting)
meaning for a pupil
1) Of a ghost: visiting a place again and again (in stories). tree →
2) Of a memory or worry: staying in your mind and troubling you. tree →
3) (adjective) Beautiful, sad or strange in a way you cannot forget: a haunting tune. tree →
sense in the lessons
In spooky stories and at Halloween; in music and poetry reviews describing a sad, beautiful sound. Phrases: a haunting melody, a haunting memory, haunting the castle.
examples
- A ghost is said to be haunting the old castle. tree →
- The song has a haunting melody. tree →
- The haunting cry of the owl echoed through the woods. tree →
- That mistake kept haunting him for weeks. tree →
- The film's last scene is haunting. tree →
- People say a grey lady is haunting the library. tree →
- But after a time a Baba Yaga took to haunting their hut and sucking the breasts of the merchant's daughter. tree →
note
Adjective use is about feelings, not ghosts: a haunting tune is just very moving. Related: haunted (a haunted house). Ghosts are not proven to be real; haunting is used in stories and legends.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «haunting» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.