anthem

/ˈænθəm/

/ˈænθəm/

Other forms: anthems

Rousing, reverential, sometimes even revolutionary, an anthem is a song that represents the ideals of a group of people.

Anthem comes from Old English antefn. The original word meant a song sung antiphonally, or in turns by two groups of singers. Today, anthem has little to do with the way the vocals are arranged and more to do with the content of the message. When a group of people sing an anthem, whether it’s the national anthem, or the anthem of your third-grader’s beetle-collecting club, they express their devotion to a cause they identify with.

Definitions of anthem

1. noun

   a song of devotion or loyalty (as to a nation or school)
   types:

   national anthem

   a song formally adopted as the anthem for a nation

   type of:

   song, vocal

   a short musical composition with words
2. noun

   a song of praise (to God or to a saint or to a nation)
   synonyms: hymn

   examples:

   Dies Irae

   the first words of a medieval Latin hymn describing the Last Judgment (literally `day of wrath')

   Internationale

   a revolutionary socialist anthem

   Te Deum

   an ancient liturgical hymn

   types:

   dithyramb

   (ancient Greece) a passionate hymn (usually in honor of Dionysus)

   doxology

   a hymn or verse in Christian liturgy glorifying God

   choral, chorale

   a stately Protestant (especially Lutheran) hymn tune

   canticle

   a hymn derived from the Bible

   hymeneal

   a wedding hymn

   paean, pean

   (ancient Greece) a hymn of praise (especially one sung in ancient Greece to invoke or thank a deity)

   recessional

   a hymn that is sung at the end of a service as the clergy and choir withdraw

   type of:

   religious song

   religious music for singing