psalm

American  

[sahm] / sɑm /

noun

psalms plural

1. a sacred song or hymn.

2. (initial capital letter) any of the songs, hymns, or prayers contained in the Book of Psalms.

3. a metric version or paraphrase of any of these.

4. a poem of a similar nature.

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psalm British  

/ sɑːm /

noun

1. (often capital) any of the 150 sacred songs, lyric poems, and prayers that together constitute a book (Psalms) of the Old Testament

2. a musical setting of one of these poems

3. any sacred song or hymn

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• psalmic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• psalms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of psalm

before 900; Middle English psalm ( e ), s ( e ) alm ( e ), psame, Old English ps ( e ) alm, sealm < Late Latin psalmus < Greek psalmós song sung to the harp, originally, a plucking, as of strings, akin to psállein to pluck, pull, play (the harp)

Explanation

A psalm is a religious song in the Bible. While you can read psalms as prayers, they are meant to be sung. The Book of Psalms is a section of the Christian Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible that includes 150 individual psalms. The word psalm, which is pronounced with a silent p, comes from the Greek word psalmos, "song sung to a harp," and its root, psallein, "play a stringed instrument." While they're not often backed by a harp these days, psalms are frequently sung with musical accompaniment in churches and temples.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

psalm psalms

It arrived as the music of dire necessity, the work song, the psalm, and was subsequently used to distract and entertain captors, or to scare them off with screams and moans they couldn’t decipher.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2023

Just as May’s coronation ceremony gave nods to the multicultural nature of Britain today, Wednesday’s church service will include a psalm sung in Gaelic.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 4, 2023

He takes Psalm 23, which is a really gentle psalm.

From Salon ● Apr. 27, 2023

At Ansche Chesed, a Conservative synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky has replaced the standard prayer for the State of Israel with a more spiritual psalm invoking peace in Jerusalem.

From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2023

There were more prayers, a psalm, the Lord’s Prayer and another long one in which the falling tones of valediction gathered into a melancholy finality.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

During a return trip to Pokrovskoe he set up a chapel in the cellar of his stable, attracting pilgrims to pray and sing psalms with him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

Volunteers, once hard to find, have been packing donations, gathering daily to recite psalms and fundraising for Israel - “coming together like you would for your family.”

From Washington Times ● Dec. 6, 2023

The former archbishop says the Queen committed to memory the words of most popular hymns - "except the dreary ones"- and she frequently quoted psalms.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2022

Across Surfside, Jewish and Catholic community members gathered on street corners and in front yards, inside synagogues and on the beach to form prayer circles and read Old Testament psalms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2021

There were, for example, one hundred and fifty psalms in the standard church repertoire, all of which had their own melodies.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• hymn
• verse