{
    "term": "haunt",
    "partOfSpeech": "verb",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "verbForms": {
        "presentSimple": {
            "iYouWeThey": "haunt",
            "heSheIt": "haunts"
        },
        "pastSimple": "haunted",
        "pastParticiple": "haunted",
        "ingForm": "haunting"
    },
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "if the ghost of a dead person haunts a place, people say that they have seen it there",
            "sensetop": "haunt something/somebody",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "A headless rider haunts the country lanes."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I’ll come back to haunt you!"
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["reputedly", "supposedly"],
                "verb + haunt": ["come back to", "return to"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "if something unpleasant haunts you, it keeps coming to your mind so that you cannot forget it",
            "sensetop": "haunt somebody",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The memory of that day still haunts me."
                },
                {
                    "text": "For years she was haunted by guilt."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He will be haunted forever by his failed attempt to rescue the children."
                },
                {
                    "text": "These visions continued to haunt her for many years."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["still", "forever"],
                "verb + haunt": ["continue to"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "to continue to cause problems for somebody for a long time",
            "sensetop": "haunt somebody",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "That decision **came back to haunt him**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She has been haunted by her past during her career."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Difficulty and failure"]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/hɔːnt/",
                "audio": "ha/haunt/haunt__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/hɔːnts/",
                "audio": "ha/haunt/haunts__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhɔːntɪd/",
                "audio": "ha/haunt/haunted__gb_2.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhɔːntɪŋ/",
                "audio": "ha/haunt/haunting__gb_2.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/hɔːnt/",
                "audio": "ha/haunt/haunt__us_1_rr.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/hɔːnts/",
                "audio": "ha/haunt/haunts__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhɔːntɪd/",
                "audio": "ha/haunt/haunted__us_1_rr.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhɔːntɪŋ/",
                "audio": "ha/haunt/haunting__us_1_rr.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English (in the sense ‘frequent (a place)’): from Old French hanter, of Germanic origin; distantly related to home."
}