From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishantheman‧them /ˈænθəm/ ●○○ noun [countable] 1 APMa formal or religious song → national anthem2 APMa song that a particular group of people consider to be very important The Rolling Stones’ ‘Satisfaction’ was an anthem for a generation.
Examples from the Corpus
anthem• I might have gone myself, but where else could I hear the music that accompanied the Congregational hymns and anthems?• Then the barricaded rebels of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement greet the dawn with militant anthems and defiant chants.• One of its first actions was to endorse Putin's idea of restoring the Soviet national anthem written for Joseph Stalin.• And the national anthem will be played by..• Since then, the official anthem has had a solid place at the Super Bowl, although sometimes both songs are sung.• the Olympic anthem• What Baden Powell would say to a rap anthem, one can only guess at.• "Surf City" was more or less the anthem of the surfer boys and girls of the '60s.• Composers are also commissioned to write anthems and settings of the Eucharist for the regular round of worship.Origin anthem (900-1000) Late Latin antiphona, from Greek, from antiphonos “answering”, from anti- ( → ANTI-) + phone “sound” 