litany
noun
Simple meaning
A prayer made up of a series of invocations by the priest with responses from the congregation.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lituhneeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɪtəni
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A prayer consisting of a series of invocations by the priest with responses from the congregation
A ritual liturgical prayer in which a series of prayers recited by a leader are alternated with responses from the congregation.
figurative
A prolonged or tedious list.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A prayer consisting of a series of invocations by the priest with responses from the congregation
Used this way, litany is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a religious use: it carries the weight of tradition and ceremony.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Religion/spirituality
- Historical writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use litany
- “The patient recited a litany of complaints.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- invocationnoun
- hymnnoun
- psalmsnoun
- psalmnoun
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “litany” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.