Adjacent Words

Liturgy definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LIT'URGY, n. [Gr. public, and work.
In a general sense, all public ceremonies that belong to divine service; hence, in a restricted sense, among the Romanists, the mass; and among protestants, the common prayer, or the formulary of public prayers.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a Christian sacrament commemorating the Last Supper by consecrating bread and wine [syn: Holy Eucharist, Eucharist, sacrament of the Eucharist, Holy Sacrament, Liturgy, Eucharistic liturgy, Lord's Supper]
2: a rite or body of rites prescribed for public worship

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -gies) Etymology: Late Latin liturgia, from Greek leitourgia public service, from Greek (Attic) leďton public building (from Greek laos — Attic le?s — people) + -ourgia -urgy Date: 1560 1. often capitalized a eucharistic rite 2. a rite or body of rites prescribed for public worship 3. a customary repertoire of ideas, phrases, or observances

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 a a form of public worship. b a set of formularies for this. c public worship in accordance with a prescribed form. 2 (the Liturgy) the Book of Common Prayer. 3 the Communion office of the Orthodox Church. 4 Gk Antiq. a public office or duty performed voluntarily by a rich Athenian. Etymology: F liturgie or LL liturgia f. Gk leitourgia public worship f. leitourgos minister f. leit- public + ergon work

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Liturgy Lit"ur*gy, n.; pl. Liturgies. [F. liturgie, LL. liturgia, Gr. ? a public service, the public service of God, public worship; (assumed) ?, ?, belonging to the people, public (fr. ?, ?, the people) + the root of ? work. See Lay, a., and Work.] An established formula for public worship, or the entire ritual for public worship in a church which uses prescribed forms; a formulary for public prayer or devotion. In the Roman Catholic Church it includes all forms and services in any language, in any part of the world, for the celebration of Mass.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(liturgies) A liturgy is a particular form of religious service, usually one that is set and approved by a branch of the Christian Church. A clergyman read the liturgy from the prayer-book. ...the many similarities in ministry, liturgy and style between the two churches. N-VAR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Ritual, formulary of public worship, agenda.

Moby Thesaurus

Mass, baccalaureate service, bedtime prayer, camp meeting, celebration, ceremonial, ceremony, church, church service, commencement, compline, convocation, devotions, divine service, duty, empty formality, evening devotions, evensong, exercise, exercises, form, form of worship, formal, formality, formula, formulary, function, graduation, graduation exercises, holy rite, inaugural, inauguration, initiation, institution, lauds, matins, meeting, mode of worship, morning devotions, mummery, mystery, night song, none, nones, novena, observance, office, order of worship, ordinance, performance, practice, praise meeting, prayer, prayer meeting, prayers, prescribed form, prime, prime song, public worship, religious ceremony, revival, revival meeting, rite, rite de passage, rite of passage, ritual, ritual observance, rituality, sacrament, sacramental, service, sext, solemnity, solemnization, tent meeting, tierce, undersong, vesper, vespers, vigils, watch meeting, watch night, watch-night service