ANTHEM

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does anthem mean? 

• ANTHEM (noun)
  The noun ANTHEM has 2 senses:

1. a song of devotion or loyalty (as to a nation or school)

2. a song of praise (to God or to a saint or to a nation)

  Familiarity information: ANTHEM used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANTHEM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("anthem" is a kind of...):

song; vocal (a short musical composition with words)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "anthem"):

national anthem (a song formally adopted as the anthem for a nation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A song of praise (to God or to a saint or to a nation)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

anthem; hymn

Hypernyms ("anthem" is a kind of...):

religious song (religious music for singing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "anthem"):

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)

Instance hyponyms:

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)

 Context examples 

Yet to him, used as he was to a life of such quiet that the failure of a brewing or the altering of an anthem had seemed to be of the deepest import, the quick changing play of the lights and shadows of life was strangely startling and interesting.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)