Hallowed Has Old English Roots

The adjective hallowed probably doesn't give you the shivers—or does it? Hallowed is the past participle of the verb hallow, a term that descends from the Middle English 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, and the evening that preceded All Hallows' Day was All Hallows' Eve or All Hallow Even—or, as we know it today, Halloween.

Examples of hallowed in a Sentence

The church stands on hallowed ground. the college's hallowed tradition of ringing the chapel bell one hundred times before commencement ceremonies

Recent Examples on the Web Noses are on high alert in armpit-to-armpit lines and hip-to-hip seats occupied for hours in the hallowed Hall H, the huge auditorium where the crème de la crème of the Comic-Con panels appear. — Diane Bellcolumnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 July 2022 Twisting vines glow when etched into, but not through, a hallowed-out pumpkin. — Charlyne Mattox, Country Living, 15 July 2022 Engaging in any of these pleasures will contaminate a shaman’s hallowed body. — Manvir Singh, Wired, 14 July 2022 It was treated as a hallowed competition among the various varsity sports programs, who each fielded their own team. — Eric Walden, The Salt Lake Tribune, 6 July 2022 Those types of performances — the ones just for pleasure — are typically treated as unfit for the hallowed spaces of musical expression. — New York Times, 1 July 2022 Woods sounded more optimistic about this tournament at one of the sport’s hallowed grounds. — Andrew Beaton, WSJ, 14 July 2022 Gusting winds rippled the roof of the supermarket-sized media tent Tuesday, creating an intermittent thunder effect as Tiger Woods discussed his sixth — and maybe most significant — Open Championship on these hallowed grounds. — Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2022 But the thrill of attending one of the nation’s most hallowed halls of learning was soon replaced by outrage. — Tara Adhikari, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 June 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hallowed.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.