Words / B1

HORNT/hɔːnt/

To haunt is to keep returning unpleasantly in the mind, or (of a ghost) to visit a place: a mistake that haunts you; a haunted house. Trouble is weaker; obsess is stronger and more clinical. As a noun, a haunt is a place you often visit. Inquests: a missed diagnosis still haunts the family.

Meaning

To keep coming back into someone’s mind in an unpleasant way; also (of a ghost) to visit a place.

Examples

• “The missed diagnosis still haunts the family, the inquest heard.”
• “The old cinema is a haunt of film students, which is the “regular place” noun.”

Good to know

haunt someone (memory). Ghost: a haunted house. Noun: a favourite haunt. Weaker: trouble. Inquests / memory. Not a mild worry.

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