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
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 it makes sense that “The Lincoln Lawyer” is as big a hymn to the city as “Bosch.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
On top of the box of mildewed hymn books was a small leather suitcase, a miniature twin to Silas’s own.
From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman
At a municipal center, a choir of about a hundred faithful practices hymns for the ceremony.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 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
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
On a typical day, an American family would be more likely to entertain itself at home by singing traditional folk songs like “Barbara Allen,” patriotic songs such as “Yankee Doodle” or hymns like “Amazing Grace.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 2026
A woman full of fun and life, she sat in the back pews of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church congregation on Sunday mornings and whistled the hymns while everybody else sang them.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
More recently, he has hymned a pre-presidential Barack Obama, and railed against Russian oligarchs on Neurosis of the Rich.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 16, 2018
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
Or that the curls I hymned belonged to you?
From Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays by Various
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
Perhaps, far hid in heaven, he does not spy, And none of all his hymning guards are nigh.
From The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 05 by Sir Walter Scott
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