litany

American  

[lit-n-ee] / ˈlɪt n i /

noun

• litanies
  plural

1. a ceremonial or liturgical form of prayer consisting of a series of invocations or supplications with responses that are the same for a number in succession.

2. the Litany, the supplication in this form in the Book of Common Prayer.

3. a recitation or recital that resembles a litany.

4. a prolonged or tedious account.

   We heard the whole litany of their complaints.

   Synonyms:

   enumeration, catalog, list

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litany British  

/ ˈlɪtənɪ /

noun

1. Christianity

   1. a form of prayer consisting of a series of invocations, each followed by an unvarying response

   2. the general supplication in this form included in the Book of Common Prayer

2. any long or tedious speech or recital

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litany Cultural  

1. In many religions, a ritual repetition of prayers. Usually a clergyman or singer chants a prayer, and the congregation makes a response, such as “Lord, have mercy.”

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• litanies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of litany

before 900; < Late Latin litanīa < Late Greek litaneía litany, Greek: an entreating, equivalent to litan- (stem of litaínein, variant of litaneúein to pray) + -eia -y ³; replacing Middle English letanie, Old English letanīa < Medieval Latin, Late Latin, as above

Explanation

A litany is a long, repetitive list or series of grievances, like your picky brother's litany of complaints about dinner or the litany of critical comments your English teacher writes in the margins of your essay. The original meaning of litany is a purely religious one. During some Christian services, a member of the clergy recites a litany, a lengthy call-and-response type of prayer. The word's Greek root means "entreaty," and in this religious context, that's an entreaty to God. Its more popular, secular meaning tends to be used in a negative way, as in your grandpa's litany of aches and pains or the litany of complaints from passengers on a stalled subway car.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

litany litanies

The president started his speech with a litany of boasts.

From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026

Nobody raises their voice; Weist answers the investigators’ litany of questions in an unwaveringly patient, professorial tone, much like the ones she used in her interview with me.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

Ahead of his first broadcast, Dokoupil made a litany of public promises.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

Despite that, Neymar's litany of physical issues in recent times means expectations of him are not what they once were.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

He thinks of a litany of questions but none of them truly matter.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

LeBlanc never moves her camera away from the ground level; there are no policy prescriptions, no litanies of statistics and no melodramatic statements about pity or persistence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2025

The advanced age of many gangsters often becomes a factor at sentencing hearings, when bids for leniency tend to rely heavily on litanies of medications, impairments, illnesses and other ravages of time.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 10, 2023

Because these kinds of litanies are not rare, I get why actor, writer, and producer Issa Rae, the woman behind "Insecure" and "Rap Sh!t," is over it.

From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2023

As was also the case with Tom Stoppard’s Broadway hit “Leopoldstadt,” I sometimes felt in “Otto Frank” that the names of the camps and the litanies of loss were being dragooned into dramatic service illegitimately.

From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2023

These are the kinds of litanies I use, to compose myself.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

Related Words

• catalogue
• recitation
• repetition