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
Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2025
Miami is facing a litany of questions right now.
—Matthew Schmidt, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Oct. 2025
This causes a litany of other problems in the housing market, namely inventory.
—Sydney Lake, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2025
Proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis have also recommended that investors reject the unprecedented payout to Musk, the value of which is dependent on Tesla reaching a litany of market value thresholds and operational milestones.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 23 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Litany.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/litany. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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litany
noun
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