Hymn Meaning
/hɪm/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA song of praise or worship, especially a religious one.
verbTo sing a hymn.
Sentence Examples
The morning service began with a hymn.
What's your favorite Christian hymn?
The congregation stood to sing the hymn.
CEFR Practice Quiz
During the Sunday morning church service, the entire congregation sang a beautiful ____ together.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The choir sang a beautiful morning ____ during the traditional Sunday church service.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English ymne, from Old English ymen (reinforced by Old French ymne), from Latin hymnus, borrowed from Ancient Greek ὕμνος (húmnos).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"But when the moon rose and the breeze awakened, and the sedges stirred, and the cat’s-paws raced across the moonlit ponds, and the far surf off Wonder Head intoned the hymn of the four winds, the trinity, earth and sky and water, became one thunderous symphony—a harmony of sound and colour silvered to a monochrome by the moon."
— 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
"An interesting feature of the church is the invisible clock, which you can hear thumping away as you enter. Constructed in 1525, it is one of the oldest timepieces in England. It chimes the hours and the quarters, and every three hours it plays a hymn. But it has no faces."
— 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 163:
"An unknown cast, including Diane Keaton, hymned the Age of Aquarius, stripped off at the end of the first act and let the sunshine in at the end of the second."
— 2009 January 21, Michael Coveney, “Tom O'Horgan”, in The Guardian:
"To hymn the birth-night of the Lord."
— 1827, [John Keble], The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC:
"Their praise is hymned by loftier harps than mine."
— 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza XXIX:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
During the Sunday morning church service, the entire congregation sang a beautiful ____ together.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The choir sang a beautiful morning ____ during the traditional Sunday church service.