Definition of LITANIES

A Short History of Litany

Litany came to English through Anglo-French and Late Latin, ultimately from the Greek word litaneia, meaning "entreaty." Litany refers literally to a type of prayer in which a series of lines are spoken alternately by a leader and a congregation. This use dates to the 13th century. Between that century and the 20th, three figurative senses developed. The chant-like quality of a literal litany led first to a "repetitive chant" sense. Next, the repetitious—and sometimes interminable—nature of the original litany led to a "lengthy recitation" sense. Finally, the "lengthy recitation" sense was extended to refer to any sizable series or set.

Examples of litany in a Sentence

He has a litany of grievances against his former employer. The team blamed its losses on a litany of injuries.

Recent Examples on the Web

The country’s most iconic dishes are a proud litany of meats and animal products—corned beef with cabbage, bacon and cabbage, and lamb stew, just to name a few. — Todd Plummer, Vogue, "There’s a Fresh Crop of Vegan Restaurants in Dublin," 15 Mar. 2019 But a litany of examples gaining steam on Twitter and other forums is highlighting how the underlying software is capable of making serious errors. — Shannon Liao, The Verge, "Tumblr is already flagging innocent posts as porn," 3 Dec. 2018 One requires a few paint rollers, and a can of paint while the other involves a litany of products, clear coats, primers, and sprayers. — Anthony Alaniz, Popular Mechanics, "How to Paint a Car," 4 Feb. 2019 All expecting parents have a litany of pros and cons to weigh when choosing a hospital or doctor, but with a royal pregnancy comes a slew of additional concerns. — Chloe Foussianes, Town & Country, "Meghan Markle May Not Give Birth at the Lindo Wing, the Royal Family's Favorite Maternity Ward," 3 Feb. 2019 Apple transitioned away from Qualcomm modems in the iPhone XS in favor of Intel modems, but that set off a litany of lawsuits between Apple and Qualcomm. — Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, "Don’t buy a 5G smartphone—at least, not for a while," 14 Dec. 2018 The Motorola Xoom and Xyboard, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, the 13-inch Toshiba Excite, and a litany of others from Acer, Dell, Lenovo, and Google have shown promise only to ultimately disappoint. — Vlad Savov, The Verge, "Google keeps failing to understand tablets," 29 Nov. 2018 To revisit the hacking of the DNC and DCCC is to read through a litany of cultural failures: alarms not raised, phony emails clicked, warnings ignored, meetings not held. — Benjamin Wofford, Vox, "The midterms are already hacked. You just don’t know it yet.," 25 Oct. 2018 Players also go through a litany of personalty tests at these events. — Dan Steinberg, chicagotribune.com, "So what else do NFL team employees ask prospective players in those interviews?," 8 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'litany.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.