Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Christianity A liturgical prayer consisting of a series of petitions recited by a leader alternating with fixed responses by the congregation.
- noun A repetitive recital, series, or list.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Primarily, a solemn prayer of supplication; a public or general supplication to God, especially in processions.
- noun Specifically, in liturgics, an appointed form of responsive prayer, used as part of a service or separately. The most important varieties have been the following:
- noun Hence Any earnest supplication or prayer.
- noun The same petitions with the following versicles or prayers and responses in the litany in the English Book of Common Prayer, allowed to be omitted at discretion in the American Book.
- noun The same petitions with the following versicles and responses in the Orders for Morning and Evening Prayer.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A solemn form of supplication in the public worship of various churches, in which the clergy and congregation join, the former leading and the latter responding in alternate sentences. It is usually of a penitential character.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
ritual liturgical prayer in which a series ofprayers recited by aleader arealternated withresponses from thecongregation . - noun A
prolonged ortedious account .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a prayer consisting of a series of invocations by the priest with responses from the congregation
- noun any long and tedious address or recital
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The word litany comes from the Latin litania, from the Greek λιτή litê, meaning "prayer" or "supplication"....
The Great Litany bls 2009
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The word litany comes from the Latin litania, from the Greek λιτή litê, meaning "prayer" or "supplication"....
Archive 2009-02-01 bls 2009
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You cite what you call a litany of reasons for Lehmans 'bankruptcy.
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In your testimony today, right here, right now, you continue to deflect personal responsibility, you cite what you call a litany of reasons for Lehman's bankruptcy.
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Because that's another one of these litany -- what I call the litany of lies.
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Because that's another one of these litany -- what I call the litany of lies.
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Of course we have just begun the litany from the Repubs on why this woman should not be seated as it was also a trying time for her immediate precedent.
Obama aide defends Kagan over DADT, military recruiting 2010
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Of course we have just begun the litany from the Repubs on why this woman should not be seated as it was also a trying time for her immediate precedent.
Obama aide defends Kagan over DADT, military recruiting 2010
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And some of the least reliable escalators in the system are also some of the newest, accumulating thousands of hours out of service for what officials described as a litany of mechanical flaws.
Disabled people blocked from NY subway access with constant elevator breakdowns BA Haller 2008
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Part of their litany is a desire to avoid coming face to face with academics or scientists who are specialists in their subject and might be able to debunk their prejudices.
bodhi commented on the word litany
A litany of prettiness and pettiness too,
it seems like every second second we come up with something new!
September 11, 2008
jwjarvis commented on the word litany
"Bo Knows" which envisioned Jackson attempting to take up a litany of other sports
January 11, 2011
100000232338334 commented on the word litany
"After going through the litany, which Alcide showed me in the Prayer Book, the priest asked if anyone would like to say a few words about Colonel Flood."-Dead as a Doornail, by Charlaine Harris
May 19, 2011