Dictionary

litany en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈlɪtəni/

Etymology

Etymology tree Ancient Greek λῐτή (lĭtḗ) Ancient Greek -ᾰνός (-ănós) Ancient Greek λῐτᾰνός (lĭtănós) Pre-Greekder.? Proto-Hellenic *-eús Ancient Greek -εύς (-eús) Ancient Greek -εύω (-eúō) Ancient Greek λῐτᾰνεύω (lĭtăneúō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ία (-ía) Ancient Greek -είᾱ (-eíā) Ancient Greek λῐτᾰνείᾱ (lĭtăneíā)der. Latin litaniader. Old French letanieder. Middle English English litany From Middle English, from Old French letanie, from Latin litania, from Ancient Greek λιτανεία (litaneía, “prayer”), from λιτή (litḗ, “prayer, entreaty”).

Meanings

1. A ritual liturgical prayer in which a series of prayers recited by a leader are alternated with responses from the congregation.
2. (figuratively) A prolonged or tedious list.
   • There are, to be sure, some differences in how the candidates propose addressing this litany of concerns. 2016 January 30, “America deserves more from presidential hopefuls”, in The National, archived from the original on 17 Feb 2016, retrieved 31 Jan 2016:
   • Near-synonym: jeremiad
   • To that end he had sent his men among the common folk of the town, from whom came a litany of tales that led Hawk to a stunningly wrong conclusion. "It seems I may not be good enough at listening," he said regretfully. 2009 July 22, Josie Litton, Come Back to Me: A Novel (Viking & Saxon), Random House Publishing Group, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 102:
   • [Sam Bankman-Fried] is charged with a litany of fraud and campaign finance law violations, in what US prosecutors are calling “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history”. 2022 December 15, David A Banks, “Crypto was supposed to solve financial corruption. The FTX scandal shows it’s got worse”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 08 Feb 2023:
   • The litany of packaging innovations introduced to or popularized in the U.S. food market over the last generation seems endless: flexible aseptic packaging, barrier plastics, squeezables, lightweight glass, the retort pouch, […] 1988, Prepared Foods, volume 157, numbers 11-13, page 9:

Forms

Deriveds

litany stool · litany desk · Lesser Litany · litanic · litanywise

Synonyms

call and response · laundry list · jeremiad

Translations (43)

pt ladainha (prolonged or tedious list) · pt litania (ritual liturgical prayer) · id litani (ritual liturgical prayer) · nrf litannie (ritual liturgical prayer) · fi litania (ritual liturgical prayer) · it litania (ritual liturgical prayer) · fr kyrielle (prolonged or tedious list) · mi ritani (ritual liturgical prayer) · bg литания (ritual liturgical prayer) · da litani (ritual liturgical prayer) · cs litanie (ritual liturgical prayer) · hu litánia (ritual liturgical prayer) · nl litanie (ritual liturgical prayer) · sh лита̀нија (prolonged or tedious list) · ka ლიტანია (ritual liturgical prayer) · de Litanei (ritual liturgical prayer) · sv litania (ritual liturgical prayer) · pl litania (prolonged or tedious list) · pt litania (prolonged or tedious list) · ca lletania (prolonged or tedious list) · eo litanio (prolonged or tedious list) · pt ladainha (ritual liturgical prayer) · sh litànija (prolonged or tedious list) · nl litanie (prolonged or tedious list) · fr litanie (prolonged or tedious list) · yue 贅述 /赘述 (prolonged or tedious list) · sh litànija (ritual liturgical prayer) · el λιτανεία (ritual liturgical prayer) · ru ектенья́ (ritual liturgical prayer) · it litania (prolonged or tedious list) · oge ლიტანია (ritual liturgical prayer) · es letanía (prolonged or tedious list) · es letanía (ritual liturgical prayer) · fr litanie (ritual liturgical prayer) · ru лита́ния (ritual liturgical prayer) · el λιτανεία (prolonged or tedious list) · ru лита́ния (prolonged or tedious list) · sk litánie (ritual liturgical prayer) · ca lletania (ritual liturgical prayer) · pl litania (ritual liturgical prayer) · sco leetany (ritual liturgical prayer) · sh лита̀нија (ritual liturgical prayer) · de Litanei (prolonged or tedious list)