Rousing, reverential, sometimes even revolutionary, an anthem is a song that represents the ideals of a group of people.
- Pronunciation: /'ænθəm/
- English description: a song of devotion or loyalty (as to a nation or school)
- Synonyms: song
- Chinese Translation: 国歌(guo2 ge1)
- Spanish Translation: el himno
- ORIGIN: 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.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
- The first clue students had as to the identity of the guest was when the band started playing the national anthem.
- “It makes my stay right there, you know?” he said. “I think it’s important that we share the anthem with the people that are there.
*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary.com