hymn
Americannoun
-
hymns
plural
verb (used with object)
-
hymns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hymned,
past participle, past
-
hymning
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
hymns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hymned,
past participle, past
-
hymning
present participle
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:
If you want to find an observer singing from the same hymn sheet, sooner or later you will hit pay dirt.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
Beautiful Love, external, co-written with Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody, is a soaring hymn to embracing your flaws and making peace with life's highs and lows.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
The crowd listened in silence as the Polynesians, wearing blue fire uniforms, sang a Tahitian hymn in harmony while two of them strummed ukuleles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
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
Next to “Softly and Tenderly,” “In the Garden” was Great-great-aunt Florentine’s favorite hymn.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
At a municipal center, a choir of about a hundred faithful practices hymns for the ceremony.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
Through subtle harmonic shifts on “Crepuscule With Nellie,” perhaps Monk’s loveliest melody, he accentuates the song’s inherent connection to blues and church hymns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
The holy scripture contains the hymns and teachings of the Sikh Gurus, along with compositions by saint-poets from different spiritual traditions.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
From every camp come hymns to the principle of free passage without saying how to uphold it in present circumstances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
“Yes,” she said, “those hymns about eternal lakes of fire; are always so jaunty, aren’t they? Play another.”
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
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
Happiness, as hymned in these renditions, would never be won easily.
From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2016
Tonight, Ralf Hütter's music-workers play Trans-Europe Express, an album that hymned our continent's speedy rail service.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 10, 2013
Finally it became a lullabye, and so hymned her to sleep.
From A Romance of Wastdale by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason
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
Two charming girls, radiant and lovely, raised their voices in grateful song, hymning the virtues of Rayglo Shampoo.
From Operation: Outer Space by Murray Leinster
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
