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
Julia Prodis Sulek, Mercury News, 13 Sep. 2025
The airport has brought in a company to build a new private terminal on hallowed ground, renovating what was once the historic Pan Am headquarters building.
—Vinod Sreeharsha, Miami Herald, 6 Sep. 2025
Shot by Malik Hassan Sayeed, the whole enterprise looks handsome enough, in a hallowed-halls-of-the-Ivy League way.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 29 Aug. 2025
The hallowed group of dividend growers know how to stack pennies over time, but their headline numbers often leave a lot to be desired.
—Brett Owens, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 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 18 Sep. 2025.
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