rosary

[ roh-zuh-ree ]
See synonyms for rosary on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural ro·sa·ries.
  1. Roman Catholic Church.

    • the rosary or the Rosary , a series of prayers, usually consisting of 15 sets of 10 Ave Marias, each set of 10 being preceded by a Paternoster and followed by a Gloria Patri, and each including a prayer that recalls one of the mysteries or events in the life of Christ or the Virgin Mary: All through that crisis, I never stopped praying the rosary and other devotions dear to my heart.He learned to say the Rosary as a kid going to Catholic school, and never lost the habit.

    • a string of beads used for counting these prayers during their recitation: As a memento of my visit to the basilica, I bought a lovely sandalwood rosary.

    • a similar string of beads consisting of five sets of 10.

  2. in various non–Roman Catholic faith traditions, a string of beads used in praying, especially to count recited prayers: The auspicious number 108 represents the number of beads in a Buddhist rosary.One of the beauties of the Anglican rosary is the ability to use it with your own prayers according to your preferences, needs, or the liturgical season.

  1. a rose garden or a bed of roses: The rosebushes in the rosary are covered with burlap to protect the buds from late spring frost.

Origin of rosary

1
First recorded in 1350–1400, for an earlier sense; 1400–50 for def. 3; 1540–50 for def. 1; Middle English rosarie, from Medieval Latin rosārium, in all current senses (in Latin: “rose garden”); equivalent to rose1 + -ary

Words Nearby rosary

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use rosary in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for rosary

rosary

/ (ˈrəʊzərɪ) /


nounplural -saries
  1. RC Church

    • a series of prayers counted on a string of beads, usually consisting of five or 15 decades of Aves, each decade beginning with a Paternoster and ending with a Gloria

    • a string of 55 or 165 beads used to count these prayers as they are recited

  2. (in other religions) a similar string of beads used in praying

  1. a bed or garden of roses

  2. an archaic word for garland (def. 1)

Origin of rosary

1
C14: from Latin rosārium rose garden, from rosārius of roses, from rosa rose 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for rosary

rosary

A set of prayers common in the Roman Catholic Church, said during meditation on events in the lives of Jesus and of Mary, the mother of Jesus. A rosary is also the string of beads that the worshiper uses to count the prayers.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.