haunting
haunting — adjective
1. Something haunting has a sad beauty that stays in your mind long after you have
Something haunting has a sad beauty that stays in your mind long after you have seen or heard it.
Salma listened to the haunting melody and felt tears in her eyes.
collocation: haunting melody / haunting music / haunting voice
The old lighthouse had a haunting beauty that the photographs could not capture.
Christopher's voice had a haunting quality that made everyone in the room stop talking.
There was something haunting about the empty swing moving in the wind.
The film's haunting final scene stayed with Ayesha for days after she watched it.
- poignant
suggests gentle sadness without the lingering, unforgettable quality of haunting
- evocative
brings memories to mind but does not carry the sadness that haunting implies
- unforgettable
broader — can describe anything memorable, not just sad or beautiful things
- melancholy
describes a mood or atmosphere of sadness, but lacks the persistent lingering sense of haunting
- forgettable
something that does not stay in the mind at all
- cheerful
opposite in emotional tone — happy rather than sadly beautiful
用法筆記
Commonly describes sounds (voices, songs, silence), images (photographs, faces), or scenes (landscapes, buildings). Does not describe something that causes fear — for fear, use frightening or creepy instead.
常見錯誤
haunting — noun
1. A haunting is an event or experience in which a ghost or spirit is believed to r
A haunting is an event or experience in which a ghost or spirit is believed to repeatedly visit a place, often causing strange sounds, objects moving, or other unexplained activity.
The old castle was famous for its haunting by a sad young woman.
possessive: its haunting — common determiner pattern
Researchers have studied reports of haunting in ancient buildings for decades.
reports of haunting + in [place] — common noun-phrase pattern
After the haunting, the Chen family moved out of the house immediately.
The documentary examined the evidence of a haunting at the old prison.
- poltergeist activity
more specific — refers to noises and objects moving, often without a visible ghost
- paranormal event
broader — includes any unexplained supernatural occurrence, not just ghostly visits
用法筆記
Far less common than the adjective sense. Typically found in stories about ghosts, paranormal investigations, and folklore. Often appears with determiners such as a, the, or possessives (e.g., a haunting, the haunting, its haunting).