litany Hear it!

litany Definition

lita·ny (lit'n ē)

noun pl. -·nies

  1. a series of fixed invocations and responses, used as a prayer
  2. any dreary or repetitive recital or account

Etymology: ME letanie < OFr < LL(Ec) litania < Gr(Ec) litaneia < Gr litanos, pleading < litē, a request

litany Synonyms

litany

n.

petition, invocation, act of devotion; see prayer 2.

litany Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • saint: Details of its litany of saints suggest it was made for Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire.
  • complaint: At a meeting of the Camden Square Neighborhood Association this week a litany of complaints were aired.
  • failure: Imtiaz Amin, Zahid's uncle, said, " The Keith report shows a litany of failures run right through the prison service.
  • abuse: Japan's woeful litany of abuses provoked the audience to laughter at one point, causing the chairman to intervene.
  • crime: The civilized world was horror struck by the killing, just the latest in a litany of crimes committed this year in Northern Ireland.
  • name: He ends with a litany of names of peoples who have been driven into exile during the course of the twentieth century.

Converse of object

  • recite: My aim in reciting this litany -- which could be extended indefinitely -- is not to tell you what choices you should make.
  • have: The American Academy of Pediatrics ( AAP ) has a litany of evils they blame on TV in particular.
  • hear: Every day I find myself hearing the same old litany: ' It's progress!
  • give: I was given a litany of state failure: gangs with guns but police too thinly spread to make much difference.
  • chant: Surely he could not have been wrong all his life in chanting the litany as he had done!
  • sing: Did you ever in your life, bishop, hear anything so like play-acting as the way in which Mr. Harding sings the litany?

Adjective modifier

  • familiar: The reports are a familiar litany: Arnold, Maury Island, Mantell, the New Mexico green fireballs.
  • usual: A change from the usual litany of contempt for sf and fantasy!
  • whole: So there were a whole litany of " we knows.
  • long: In the long litany of public relations catastrophes which have marred Labor's good name, there is one common thread.
  • same: Every day I find myself hearing the same old litany: ' It's progress!
  • old: Every day I find myself hearing the same old litany: ' It's progress!

Browse dictionary entries near litany

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  4. LISW
  5. lists
  6. listlessness
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  9. listing and maintenance agreement
  10. listing
  1. litas
  2. LitB
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  6. -lite
  7. liter
  8. literacy
  9. literal
  10. literalism