hymn
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
-
a Christian song of praise sung to God or a saint
-
a similar song praising other gods, a nation, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hymnsimple
-
hymnssimple
-
have hymnedperfect
-
has hymnedperfect
-
am hymningprogressive
-
are hymningprogressive
-
is hymningprogressive
-
have been hymningperfect progressive
-
has been hymningperfect progressive
Past
-
hymnedsimple
-
had hymnedperfect
-
was hymningprogressive
-
were hymningprogressive
-
had been hymningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hymn
before 1000; < Latin hymnus < Greek hýmnos song in praise of gods or heroes; replacing Middle English ymne (< Old French ) and Old English ymn (< Late Latin ymnus )
Explanation
A hymn is a religious song, especially one praising God. People often sing hymns during church services. The word hymn comes from the Late Latin hymnus, "song of praise," and the Greek hymnos, "festive song in praise of gods or heroes." Though many people think of hymns as Christian, they're used in many other religions too, from ancient Greek hymns to deities, to Sikh hymns and Hindu hymns to many gods. What these songs have in common is giving thanks or praise to a god or gods.
Vocabulary lists containing hymn
Poetry: Genres
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Reading: Literature - Poetry - Middle School
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"Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." and "I Have a Dream"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The specifics of Martha Graham’s choreography notwithstanding, it is the bright openness of Copland’s music, its resolutely optimistic cast—particularly his reworking of the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts”—that has implanted itself in the national imagination.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Perhaps the organizers thought the crowd wouldn’t dare boo during a patriotic hymn.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
So the couple, who have been together for 13 years, decided to hold an "intimate" legal ceremony before a larger celebrant service where the hymn could be used.
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
Caedmon then miraculously composed the hymn, producing a carefully crafted poem praising God for creating the world.
From Science Daily ● May 17, 2026
There was a hymn they sang in church that he liked.
From "Clayton Byrd Goes Underground" by Rita Williams-Garcia
The evangelist Billy Graham solidified his appeal by supplanting hymns with the style of music to which teens and young adults flocked; Broadway even chimed in with the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
That scientist was annoyed that the scraps of paper he used to mark hymns for his church choir would fall out by Sunday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
Christian priests recited prayers and hymns were sung, before the body was taken for cremation.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2026
Some inmates told visitors they could hear the national anthem and hymns sung by families who have held vigils nearby for the past two nights.
From Barron's ● Jan. 10, 2026
The condemned Delawares spent the night praying and singing hymns.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
After living for two years in a small cabin beside Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts, he hymned the results in his classic account Walden, published in 1854.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
That has changed, or has seemed to change, recently, with Marine taking on a group of surreptitious haute-fonctionnaire “Horaces”—the name is a reference to the great if obsequious Roman poet who hymned the emperor Augustus.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 30, 2017
This is Sally as a flaming flapper, the kind hymned by F. Scott Fitzgerald and embodied by the young Joan Crawford in silent movies.
From New York Times ● Dec. 4, 2014
Famous fans like Stewart Lee have hymned the show's odd profundity: Jackson's ideology throws into relief the purposelessness of our supposedly meaningful lives.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 5, 2011
I knew that he had often boomed or hymned in the storm or in the breeze.
From Wild Life on the Rockies by Mills, Enos Abijah
Holst leaves the listener in the far removes of outer space, with Neptune being a study in musical mysticism, highlighted by a hidden hymning women’s chorus, as if heard from a mysterious distance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
Bush went beyond hymning the “thousand points of light” to oversee the establishment of the Commission on National and Community Service.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 3, 2018
It’s a useful rejoinder to evangelists hymning the inevitable progress of “tech,” and gurus divining what technology “wants.”
From Slate ● Jun. 1, 2015
We read him for his warm and vast-as-America hymning, and her for crabbed and cryptic messages left in a poetic bottle.
From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2011
Constantine entered Rome in triumph, hymning these and similar passages to God, the author of the victory.’
From A Brief Commentary on the Apocalypse by Bliss, Sylvester
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
