hymn

/hɪm/

/hɪm/

Other forms: hymns; hymned; hymning

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.

Definitions of hymn

1. noun

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

   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
2. verb

   sing a hymn
   type of:

   sing

   deliver by singing
3. verb

   praise by singing a hymn
   “They hymned their love of God”

   type of:

   exalt, extol, glorify, laud, proclaim

   praise, glorify, or honor