noun
litany
LIT-uh-nee/ˈlɪtəni/
A prayer organized as repeated requests and responses.
The congregation answers each request in the litany with a short response.
Etymology
The ancestor meant prayer or entreaty. The monotonous enumeration of petitions in Christian services gave litany its broader meaning of a long, repetitive series, including complaints.
In context
litany of complaints right between 2011 and 2014 United piled up a considerable number of consumer complaints and repeatedly got some of the worst quality rankings in the nation
More examples
- The priest leads a litany for peace, and everyone responds together.
- Each request in the litany ends with the response, “Hear our prayer.”
- The prayer book includes several litanies for special services.
Forms
litany · litanies
Similar words
- prayer
- A broader term that does not require requests and responses.
- supplication
- An earnest plea that need not include repeated responses.