psalm

UK: /ˈsɑːm/ US: /sɑm/ ,(säm)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

psalm /sɑm/   n. [countable]

1. Music and Dance a sacred song or hymn.
2. Bible any of the songs, hymns, or prayers contained in the Book of Psalms in the Bible:
   [often: Psalm] Psalm 92; the Twenty-third Psalm.

psalm•ist, n. [countable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

psalm  (säm), n. 

1. Music and Dance a sacred song or hymn.
2. Bible (cap.) any of the songs, hymns, or prayers contained in the Book of Psalms.
3. Music and Dance a metric version or paraphrase of any of these.
4. Poetry a poem of a similar nature.

• Greek psalmós song sung to the harp, origin, originally, a plucking, as of strings, akin to psállein to pluck, pull, play (the harp)
• Late Latin psalmus
• Middle English psalm(e), s(e)alm(e), psame, Old English ps(e)alm, sealm bef. 900

psalm′ic, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

psalm / sɑːm/ noun

1. (often capital) any of the 150 sacred songs, lyric poems, and prayers that together constitute a book (Psalms) of the Old Testament
2. a musical setting of one of these poems
3. any sacred song or hymn

Etymology: Old English, from Late Latin psalmus, from Greek psalmos song accompanied on the harp, from psallein to play (the harp)

ˈpsalmic adjective