Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA ritual liturgical prayer in which a series of prayers recited by a leader are alternated with responses from the congregation.
nounA prolonged or tedious list.
Sentence Examples
A litany of taste tests enabled Hugo to distinguish between a variety of pastes.
The defendant is being accused of a litany of criminal and civil offenses.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The priest recited a long ____ of prayers for the sick.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He provided a long ____ of excuses for why he was late, but none of them seemed very convincing today.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Ancient Greek λῐτή (lĭtḗ)
Ancient Greek -ᾰνός (-ănós)
Ancient Greek λῐτᾰνός (lĭtănós)
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"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:
"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:
"[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: