breviary
Americannoun
plural
breviaries-
Roman Catholic Church. a book containing all the daily psalms, hymns, prayers, lessons, etc., necessary for reciting the office.
-
a book of daily prayers and readings in some other churches.
noun
-
RC Church a book of psalms, hymns, prayers, etc, to be recited daily by clerics in major orders and certain members of religious orders as part of the divine office
-
a similar book in the Orthodox Church
Etymology
Origin of breviary
First recorded in 1540–50, breviary is from the Latin word breviārium an abridgment. See brevi-, -ary
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.
For decades, many people of my generation have turned to her text-driven work as a breviary of cultural and political insight.
From Washington Post
He had a worn leather breviary stuffed with prayers and Mass cards he’d been collecting for years, and he read through them all at the dining-room table every night during the 11 o’clock news.
From New York Times
On the wall hung a little cupboard which held Brother Luke’s few personal belongings and his breviary.
From Literature
But I was deeply engaged with most of the rest of this exhibition, especially the panels that come together as a personal and secular breviary of dying.
From Washington Post
In later years, he served as the librarian of Durham Cathedral and passed many happy months at the Vatican Library poring over its medieval English missals and breviaries.
From Washington Post
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.
