Haunting sounds, images, or words

Question

One of my dictionaries says, "Haunting sounds, images, or words remain in your thoughts because they are very beautiful or sad," as in "the haunting calls of wild birds in the mahogany trees." It seems this "haunting" describes something continually recurring to the mind.Is there any possibility that the word describes something just having a deeply disquieting or disturbing effect, like some horrors, but not recurring to the mind? As in, I heard this haunting sound as if ghosts were wandering around!

Clive · Accepted Answer

No

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for your reply, Clive.

Then, how can I distinguish between https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/haunting?family=Haunting of this word?

It seems to me that it cannot be decided based only on the context; there can be a horror continually recurring to the mind and a beauty (or sound) having a disturbing effect. (I'm referring to the examples on the linked page.) So when I encounter this word, I almost always wonder if it is scarily disturbing or just so impressive as to be hard to forget..

Enoon · Answer

This is the trouble with the Internet. There is a lot of information on it, but much of it is not rigorously vetted, if at all.

I disagree with the unsigned page you link to, and so do American Heritage and Cambridge. There is only one meaning for the word, describing something that persistently recurs to the mind, often poignantly or eerily. Incidentally, the word "haunt" is related etymologically to "home".

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for your reply, enoon.

So the website cannot be trusted. . . That's too bad because they have many specific, humorous examples and I liked it, but now I'd better use my COBUILD more.

Maybe some people misunderstand the meaning as the word is often used for something that triggers poignant and eerie feelings.

Anyway, every comment was helpful. Thank you.

Enoon · Answer

RinoSo the website cannot be trusted. . . That's too bad because they have many specific, humorous examples and I liked it, but now I'd better use my COBUILD more.

I wouldn't trust a no-name online dictionary written by who knows who, but they do provide citations for example sentences, so there is value in that.

You can't trust any dictionary blindly. You have to take them all with a grain of salt. All dictionaries have mistakes in them, and some are more useful than others for different uses. Online, I use Onelook.com, and I mostly click on the American Heritage Dictionary and the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. The AHD is a solid, hardcore American dictionary with detailed etymologies back to Indo-European roots and excellent notes on usage. The Cambridge is almost purely descriptive, so I don't use it to get definitions very often, but they are unequalled for coverage of phrasal verbs and idiomatic expressions. I have a paper Shorter Oxford I use for real work and to settle bar bets and Scrabble disputes.

Blue Jay · Answer

To haunt can be what a ghost does, so you could say the haunting of the castle, but this is a different sense than the use of haunting, in the context of music, to mean poignant and evocative.
If you said "haunting melody" to me I would be likely to think of Wesley Magoogan's sax solo on Hazel O' Connor's "Will You", or "El Pasa Condor" played on panpipes. "O Death" sung by Ralph Stanley or "Ain't No Grave" sung by Johnny Cash may be haunting, but it is not because they are eerie.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you, enoon, for the further comment.

I use Onelook.com, too, but tend to click Vocabulary.com and Dictionary.com because they usually explain words in different ways from dictionaries in my own language. (By the way, the dictionaries in my language all define "haunting" as "disturbing or disquieting" along with "impressive and recurring in the mind," even though they are very reputable ones! Sigh...) Now I will try to look in AHD and Cambridge, too!

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you, Blue Jay.
I checked all those minor melodies and got the point.
If I forgot the meaning, I'd listen to them again. ;-)

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