plural halos or haloes
1
: a circle of light appearing to surround the sun or moon and resulting from refraction or reflection of light by ice particles in the atmosphere
2
: something resembling a halo: such as
a
: nimbus
b
: a region of space surrounding a galaxy that is sparsely populated with luminous objects (such as globular clusters) but is believed to contain a great deal of dark matter
c
: a differentiated zone surrounding a central zone or object
d
or halo brace
: an orthopedic device used to immobilize the head and neck (as to treat fracture of neck vertebrae) that consists of a metal band placed around the head and fastened to the skull usually with metal pins and that is attached by extensions to an inflexible vest
3
: the aura of glory, veneration, or sentiment surrounding an idealized person or thing
haloed; haloing; haloes
: to form into or surround with a halo
rainbows haloed the waterfalls—
Michael Crawford
Michael Crawford
see hal-
Synonyms
Examples of halo in a Sentence
Noun
the halo of unimpeachable honesty in which the politician had long basked
a naturalistic depiction of Saint Peter that shows him as a humble fisherman and without the traditional halo
Recent Examples on the WebAlex Berg, NBC News, 25 Apr. 2024
The halo around the sun, however, was unrelated to the eclipse.
—Chloe Rose Stuart-Ulin, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2024
Reaching one of the Ukrainian machine gunners, Sever saw two purple halos glowing around the man’s head.
—Luke Mogelson, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
Against the deep black backdrops around them — the game is staged like a piece of black box theater — this lack of contrast surrounds the players with digital halos, as if they’d been awkwardly pasted into the space.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Mar. 2024
Everyone in the campaign knew her presence — silvery hair crowning her like a halo on a 4-foot-11 frame.
—Patricia Montemurri, Detroit Free Press, 13 Mar. 2024
Antisemitism Exposed Israeli survivor of Oct. 7 terror attack recalls how hero boyfriend 'had this halo.
—Eve Glover, Fox News, 6 Mar. 2024
Those lovely eclipse photos of a brilliant white halo (the solar corona, visible only during an eclipse) surrounding the deep black lunar sphere are poor preparation for the event.
—John Penner, Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2024
The more individually controllable LEDs in the array, the more the backlight can improve the TV's contrast ratio and prevent halos and auras in the shadowy parts of high-contrast scenes.
—PCMAG, 1 Apr. 2024
Joshua Sokol, Quanta Magazine, 29 Aug. 2023
White dreads halo his dark, handsome face.
—Kathleen Ann Goonan, Discover Magazine, 10 Oct. 2012
The larger ones are steeply mountainous, volcanic, rising to almost 6,000 feet, their summits haloed in clouds.
—Stanley Stewart, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 May 2020
There is a none-too-subtle mystical vibe, from the ring lights that halo the massive trees on Amaya’s Bay Area campus to Forest’s cult-leader magnetism and the cold-burn fervor of his head acolyte, Katie (a quietly terrifying Alison Pill).
—James Poniewozik, New York Times, 4 Mar. 2020
Nine, the new album from Blink-182, a band forever associated with adolescence even though the members’ mean age is now 44, arrives haloed in that great teenage emotion: embarrassment.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 2019
The landlady remains a cipher, and yet a faint aspect of loss haloes her.
—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2019
Turner’s head is haloed by the sun, much like the moon during a solar eclipse.
—Marissa Fessenden, Smithsonian, 4 May 2018
At the time, Mikey was recovering from being neutered and was haloed by a large plastic dog cone around his neck.
—Marc Lester, adn.com, 16 May 2015
Noun
Drawing on Renaissance paintings as inspiration, Busey poses her subjects, who are LGBTQ women and nonbinary people, with halos and textured backgrounds in lounging postures.
—Alex Berg, NBC News, 25 Apr. 2024
The halo around the sun, however, was unrelated to the eclipse.
—Chloe Rose Stuart-Ulin, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2024
Reaching one of the Ukrainian machine gunners, Sever saw two purple halos glowing around the man’s head.
—Luke Mogelson, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
Against the deep black backdrops around them — the game is staged like a piece of black box theater — this lack of contrast surrounds the players with digital halos, as if they’d been awkwardly pasted into the space.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Mar. 2024
Everyone in the campaign knew her presence — silvery hair crowning her like a halo on a 4-foot-11 frame.
—Patricia Montemurri, Detroit Free Press, 13 Mar. 2024
Antisemitism Exposed Israeli survivor of Oct. 7 terror attack recalls how hero boyfriend 'had this halo.
—Eve Glover, Fox News, 6 Mar. 2024
Those lovely eclipse photos of a brilliant white halo (the solar corona, visible only during an eclipse) surrounding the deep black lunar sphere are poor preparation for the event.
—John Penner, Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2024
The more individually controllable LEDs in the array, the more the backlight can improve the TV's contrast ratio and prevent halos and auras in the shadowy parts of high-contrast scenes.
—PCMAG, 1 Apr. 2024
Verb
Is the Milky Way’s dark matter halo a smooth schmear?
—Joshua Sokol, Quanta Magazine, 29 Aug. 2023
White dreads halo his dark, handsome face.
—Kathleen Ann Goonan, Discover Magazine, 10 Oct. 2012
The larger ones are steeply mountainous, volcanic, rising to almost 6,000 feet, their summits haloed in clouds.
—Stanley Stewart, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 May 2020
There is a none-too-subtle mystical vibe, from the ring lights that halo the massive trees on Amaya’s Bay Area campus to Forest’s cult-leader magnetism and the cold-burn fervor of his head acolyte, Katie (a quietly terrifying Alison Pill).
—James Poniewozik, New York Times, 4 Mar. 2020
Nine, the new album from Blink-182, a band forever associated with adolescence even though the members’ mean age is now 44, arrives haloed in that great teenage emotion: embarrassment.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 2019
The landlady remains a cipher, and yet a faint aspect of loss haloes her.
—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2019
Turner’s head is haloed by the sun, much like the moon during a solar eclipse.
—Marissa Fessenden, Smithsonian, 4 May 2018
At the time, Mikey was recovering from being neutered and was haloed by a large plastic dog cone around his neck.
—Marc Lester, adn.com, 16 May 2015
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'halo.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Halo.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/halo. Accessed 2 May. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
halo
noun
ha·lo
ˈhā-(ˌ)lō 
plural halos or haloes
1
: a circle of light appearing to surround a luminous body
especially
: one seen as the result of the presence of glaucoma
2
: a differentiated zone surrounding a central object
the halo around a boil
3
: the aura of glory, veneration, or sentiment surrounding an idealized person or thing
4
: an orthopedic device used to immobilize the head and neck (as to treat fracture of neck vertebrae) that consists of a metal band placed around the head and fastened to the skull usually with metal pins and that is attached by extensions to an inflexible vest
called also halo brace
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