Litany definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (13)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

noun A liturgical prayer consisting of a series of petitions recited by a leader alternating with fixed responses by the congregation.
noun A repetitive or incantatory recital: "the litany of layoffs in recent months by corporate giants” (Sylvia Nasar).

Century Dictionary (8)

Primarily, a solemn prayer of supplication; a public or general supplication to God, especially in processions. Thei putten his name in here Letanyes, as a Seynt. Mandeville, Travels, p. 177. The morning hymns and psalmody and prayers then came all under the general term of litany, and the Arians were forbidden in this sense to make any litanies within the city, by this law of Arcadius. Bingham, Antiq., I. xiii. 1.
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: Liturgical or missal litanies, found in theoldest liturgies or eucharistic offices, especially in the introductory division. Such are the synapte and ectene of the Oriental forms, consisting of a series of brief clauses, mostly beginning “In behalf of,” then naming the person or thing prayed for, and concluding “let us beseech the Lord,” with the response Kyrie eleïson. There were originally five such litanies in the liturgy: the initial diaconica or irenica (the Western Kyrie, pacificæ, and collect), the ectene after the Gospel, the litany after the offertory, that following the great intercession by the priest after consecration, and a closing litany after communion. In the West such litanies were in use for many centuries, but they have not been retained in the Roman Church, which has, however, versicles before the introit and the Kyrie after it. In the day hours and other offices similar litanies often form part of the service in both East and West. As separate offices in the Western Church, litanies have been used since the fifth century, especially in processions of clergy and people. The earliest form of these was the repetition of Kyrie eleison great number of times without variation, the petitions of the missal litanies being omitted. Somewhat later the existing Western form was developed, beginning with the Kyrie and invocation of the Trinity, followed by invocations of saints, deprecations, obsecrations, supplications or intercessions, with other suffrages and prayers. The Anglican Litany in the Book of Common Prayer follows very closely the model just described, but omits all invocations of saints, recites generally several petitions in succession before inserting a response, and makes a few additions. (See deprecation, 2.) It is, properly speaking, a separate service, but is regularly said after the third collect at morning prayer on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Sundays and holy days it immediately precedes the communion service, or else is said separately. In the Roman Catholic Church three litanies are recognized for use in public worship: (1) the Litany of the Saints; (2) the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, or Litany of Loreto; and (3) the Litany of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. See lite. And songe the letanye And other gode orysons. Rob. of Gloucester, p. 406.
Hence Any earnest supplication or prayer. [Poetical.] We passed, and joined a crowd in such like guise, Who through the town sang woful litanies. William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 16.

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The words repeated in a litany, as if expecting some response, but Reggie was too drained to answer. — Mary Jo Putney - The Rake.htm
A blue New York Mets baseball cap spotted with blood on a living room floor, the scorched family cat in the yard of the burnt house These are what you remember The Wooden Sea is in many ways an extended litany -- liturgy, almost --of what Frannie McCabe remembers. — F ;SF; - vol 100 issue 06 - June 2001
And Justin Connor, that dirty, no-good, thieving wretch who stole my daddy's gold mine The familiar litany was a prayer all its own. — Teresa Medeiros - Once An Angel
Chrono Trigger are best described as a litany of nit-picks. — Latest from PALGN
Followed by wot can only be described as a litany of lies, obfuscations, and smears. — Drudge Retort

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chant · vigil · reiteration · wail · chorus · anthem · catalogue · recurrence · drudgery · recitation · undertone · hymn

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Middle English letanie, from Old French, from Medieval Latin letanīa, from Late Latin litanīa, from Late Greek litaneia, from Greek, entreaty, from litaneuein, to entreat, from litanos, entreating, from litē, supplication.

Century Dictionary (1)

Early modern English litanie, from Middle English letanie, from Old French letanie, French litanie = Provencal letania = Spanish letania = Portuguese ladainha = Italian litania, letania, letana (in F., etc., usually in plural), from Late Latin litania, from Greek λιτανεία, an entreating, a litany, from λιταίνειν, rare form of λιτανεύειν, pray, from λίτεσθαι, λίσσ, σ1εσθαι, beg, pray; cf. λιτή, prayer: see lite.

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