Book of Common Prayer
Americannoun
noun
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The Book of Common Prayer, widely admired for the dignity and beauty of its language, has had a strong effect on the worship of Protestants outside the Anglican Communion, many of whom have borrowed its expressions. Most traditional Protestant wedding ceremonies, for example, follow the pattern of the Book of Common Prayer very closely.
The Book of Common Prayer has had a strong effect on literature in English through such expressions as “Let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace,” and “We have left undone those things which we ought to have done.”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It means the wording, first introduced five years ago, will now be added to the Book of Common Prayer – which includes the standard form for the Church in Wales' common prayers and blessings.
From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026
The ironic title of “In Our Time” comes from the Book of Common Prayer: “Give peace in our time, O Lord.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025
Bishop Griswold had signaled his more moderate stance as early as 1976, when, as a priest from Pennsylvania, he helped revise the church’s main text, the Book of Common Prayer.
From New York Times • Mar. 15, 2023
The following year, the Act of Uniformity of 1559 brought back the Book of Common Prayer as the only legal form of worship in England.
From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022
Selfish, self-willed, I eat too much, and I feel like the Book of Common Prayer.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
