Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Relating to or resembling an antiphon.
  • adjective Answering responsively, as in antiphony.
  • adjective Occurring or responding in turns; alternating.
  • noun An antiphonary.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to or marked by antiphony or responsive singing; antiphonary.
  • noun A book of antiphons or anthems; an antiphonary.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A book of antiphons or anthems.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to antiphony, or alternate singing; sung alternately by a divided choir or opposite choirs.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A book of antiphons or anthems sung or chanted at a liturgy; an antiphonary or antiphoner.
  • noun An antiphon; a piece sung or chanted in an antiphonal manner.
  • adjective music Characterized by antiphones or antiphony; incorporating alternate, or responsive singing by a choir split into two parts.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun bound collection of antiphons
  • adjective containing or using responses; alternating
  • adjective relating to or resembling an antiphon or antiphony

Etymologies

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Examples

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  • "From gates far apart the watchdogs, awakened by our steps in the silence, would set up an antiphonal barking such as I still hear at times of an evening, and among which the Boulevard de la Gare (when the public gardens of Combray were constructed on its site) must have taken refuge, for wherever I may be, as soon as they begin their alternate challenge and response, I can see it again with its lime-trees, and its pavement glistening beneath the moon."

    -- Swann's Way by Marcel Proust, translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, p 124 of the Vintage International paperback edition

    December 28, 2007

  • "A high-pitched wail broke from behind me, and I started back.... Phaedre had come through the gate, Gussie and another female slave behind her. She ran through the garden, screaming 'Mama!' as her white shift caught the light of hte flames that now burst through holes in the shed's roof, showering sparks....

    I closed my eyes convulsively, trying not to hear Phaedre's frantic cries and the antiphonal babble of her comforters."

    —Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross (NY: Bantam Dell, 2001), 756

    January 26, 2010