Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A song or chant, especially a nonmetrical hymn with words taken from a biblical text other than from the Book of Psalms.
- n. Bible The Song of Songs.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One of the non-metrical hymns recorded in the Bible as sung on some special occasion, and expressive of joy, thanksgiving, or confidence in God's help.
- n. One of these hymns, or a composition of similar character, arranged for chanting, and so used in church service. Both the Roman Catholic and the Greek churches use as canticles the songs of Moses (Ex. xv. 1–19 and Deut. xxxii. 1–43), Hannah (1 Sam, ii. 1–10), and Habakkuk (iii. 2–19). In Isaiah the Roman Catholic Church has canticles taken from chapters xii. and xxxviii. (10–20), and the Greek from chapter xxvi. (9–20). The Roman Catholic, Greek, and Anglican churches all use the Benedicite as found in the third chapter of Daniel in the Septuagint and Vulgate, comprising verses 35–66 of the Song of the Three Holy Children in the English Apocrypha; the Greek Church also employs the preceding verses (3–34) as a separate canticle. The three taken from the gospels, and accordingly known as the Evangelical Canticles (namely, the Magnificat, the Benedictus, and the Nunc Dimittis), are also used by all the three churches just named. The Te Deum is accounted a canticle, although not found in the Bible. The English and American Books of Common Prayer also use certain psalms as canticles, namely, psalms lxvii. (Deus Misereatur), xcviii. (Cantate), and c. (Jubilate), to which the American book adds xcii. (Bonum est) and ciii. (Benedic). Some writers also account the Venite (psalm xcv.), the Gloria in Excelsis, and the Trisagion canticles.
- n. Specifically [capitalized] plural The Songs, otherwise called the Song of Songs, or Song of Solomon (LL. Canticum Canticorum Salomonis), one of the books of the Old Testament. Until the nineteenth century it was universally ascribed to Solomon, but some critics now think it of later date.
- n. A division of a song or poem; a canto.
- n. Any song or hymn, properly one that is brief and simple.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete A song; esp. a little song or hymn.
- n. The Song of Songs or Song of Solomon, one of the books of the Old Testament.
- n. obsolete A canto or division of a poem.
- n. A psalm, hymn, or passage from the Bible, arranged for chanting in church service.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a hymn derived from the Bible
Etymologies
- Latin canticulum, diminutive of cantus, song (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Latin canticulum, diminutive of cantus, song, from past participle of canere, to sing; see kan- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“This canticle, which is not admitted into the authorized books, is to be found in fragments in the 237th letter of St. Augustine to Bishop Chretius; and, whatever disputes there may have been about its authenticity, it is certain that singing was employed in all religious ceremonies.”
“ANNE RICE, AUTHOR: Well, a canticle is a song and it's just a blood song.”
“(Antiphona also means the antiphon of a psalm or canticle, which is of the same form as in the Roman Rite.)”
“A "canticle," you see, is simply a holy love song -- a poem or refrain based on a portion of Scripture not found in the Psalms.”
“It seemed anachronistic, out of touch with the mainstream (I actually had to look up "canticle" to see what it meant).”
“It's vague, but I remember really liking it, but in "canticle", the story traverses many eras, and, deals with the theme ultimately of global violence.”
“And her humility, which was never equaled by that of any other woman, did not hinder her from seeing the great things that God had operated in her, as she herself proclaims in that sublime canticle which is the "Magna Charta" of the rights, the prerogatives and the greatness of woman.”
“You may easily discover this, Theotimus; for if this mystical nightingale sing to please God, she will sing the song which she knows to be most grateful to the Divine Providence, but if she sing for the delight which she herself takes in her melodious song, she will not sing the canticle which is most agreeable to the heavenly goodness, but that which she herself likes best, and from which she expects to draw the most contentment.”
“He revenges himself on Fromond, however, by drowning him in the Rhone, and, lifting up his voice, he makes then the valley ring with a "canticle" celebrating his triumph. [”
A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance
“Mike Resnick's lighthearted "Catastrophe Baker and a Canticle for Leibowitz" is really a space western (and thus homage to old space opera) about a freelance hero (Catastrophe Baker) and his quest to find the missing canticle of a play produced by Saul Leibowitz.”
REVIEW: The New Space Opera 2 edited by Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘canticle’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Postscripture ✞
Terms associated with the Christianity, The Bible, etc. I have a related, but more narrow list called Imbible Code.
A related list is Words Associated With Jesus.apostole, pharaoh, sodom, babel, sabbath, baptize, cherub, elohim, lapsarian, crucifixion, nephilim, hosanna and 195 more...
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
caballine, cabas, cable, caboched, cabochon, caboose, cabotage, cabré, cabrie, cabriole, cabriolet, cacaesthesia and 1298 more...
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religion
who is this god person, anyway? (--Douglas Adams)
sachristy, vestry, diocese, papal, cardinal, pope, polygamy, seven, father, chaplain, vestments, blessing and 227 more...
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Antics
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Yes We Can
can-, -can, or even -can-.
candelabra, parcan, incantation, Canada, candida, Candide, toucan, can-can, cancan, cannabis, incandescent, canticle and 26 more...
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Moby Dick
Words of interest from the book Moby Dick.
arrant, obstreperously, coffer-dam, farrago, rejoinder, counterpane, hamper, commend, grego, dreadnought, psalmody, expostulation and 85 more...
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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Morthalion's Words
supercilious, kvetch, kvass, splurge, erroneous, pugnacious, macabre, gauche, conglomerate, abyss, paraphernalia, kleptomania and 285 more...
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inkhorn's Words
inkhorn, aplomb, apotheosis, asinine, avatar, bombastic, boorish, bromide, bucolic, cagey, canvass, digress and 991 more...
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exlotuseater's Words
autocthonous, anacoluthon, benthic, bactrian, caryatid, chiastic, dryad, dromedary, effulgent, elixir, fricative, fungible and 145 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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imogen's Words
coagitate, cloche, harum-scarum, foxglove, cryptolect, cant, roux, angora, duff, ulysse, schadenfreude, pepperpot and 315 more...
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words found to be generally pleasing
alabaster, mahogany, camphor, coalesce, spire, portmanteau, gadabout, palaver, dolor, dour, dun, luminesce and 610 more...
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Manji's Random Wordlist
The title says it all
velour, vivacity, subterfuge, sable, divination, gentry, vindication, compendium, pistons, metamorphosis, methodology, polyphony and 91 more...
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je les adore!
fusillade, foal, celestial, abattoir, byzantium, berlin, casablanca, babylon, balkans, albion, avalon, between the devil... and 471 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for canticle.

bilby A negative-minded canicle. Nov 22, 2008