Herman Wouk
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A Short History of Litany
How do we love the word litany? Let us count the ways. We love its original 13th century meaning, still in use today, referring to a call-and-response prayer in which a series of lines are spoken alternately by a leader and a congregation. We love how litany has developed in the intervening centuries three figurative senses, and we love each of these as well: first, a sense meaning “repetitive chant”; next, the “lengthy recitation” sense owing to the repetitious—and sometimes interminable—nature of the original litany; and finally, an even broader sense referring to any sizeable series or set. Though litanies of this third sort tend to be unpleasant, we choose today to think of the loveliness found in the idea of “a litany of sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.”
Examples of litany in a Sentence
Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 11 Apr. 2025
Carmakers face a litany of issues, including regulatory pressures, technological change, powerful Chinese competition and a stagnant sales market.
—Joann Muller, Axios, 2 Apr. 2025
There’s been no deals yet with Baltimore’s litany of other extension candidates, a group that includes Isaiah Likely, Tyler Linderbaum, Odafe Oweh and Kyle Hamilton.
—Jeff Zrebiec, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2025
In a letter sent to MTA Chairman Janno Lieber earlier this week, Duffy demanded a litany of stats — much of it already publicly available — as to crime trends and funding in the subway system.
—Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 20 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Litany.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/litany. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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litany
noun
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