anthem
noun
Simple meaning
A song of praise.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
anthuhmSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈænθəm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
informal
A song of praise (to God or to a saint or to a nation)
informal
A very popular song or track.
A choral or vocal composition, often with a religious or political lyric.
A hymn of praise or loyalty.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A song of praise (to God or to a saint or to a nation)
Used this way, anthem is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Casual
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use anthem
- “Everyone stood respectfully for the national anthem before the game.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: song of praise (to God
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.