hallowed
adjective
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Hallowed Has Old English Roots
The adjective hallowed, meaning "holy" or "revered," isn’t especially spooky, but its history is entwined with that of a certain spooky season. Hallowed is the past participle of the verb hallow, a term that descends from the Middle English word halowen. That word can be traced back to the Old English adjective hālig, meaning "holy." During the Middle Ages, All Hallows' Day was the name for what Christians now call All Saints' Day (hallow was once used also as a noun referring to a saint), and the evening that preceded All Hallows' Day was All Hallows' Eve or All Hallow Even—or, as we know it today, Halloween. (Although pumpkins are often hollowed out on Halloween, hollow has a different Old English root.)
Examples of hallowed in a Sentence
Dade Hayes, Deadline, 6 June 2025
The hallowed Cup was on the ice before the puck dropped Wednesday.
—Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 5 June 2025
From Sandy Koufax to Clayton Kershaw, and Kirk Gibson to Freddie Freeman, the legends that have come through the hallowed grounds of Chavez Ravine are numerous.
—Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 5 June 2025
At this point, many of the songwriters and musicians from that hallowed Greenwich Village scene have either died (mostly recently Peter Yarrow) or retired from touring (like Tom Paxton last year).
—David Browne, Rolling Stone, 4 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for hallowed
Cite this Entry
“Hallowed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hallowed. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.
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