Kyrie eleison
Americannoun
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(italics) the brief petition “Lord, have mercy,” used in various offices of the Greek Orthodox Church and of the Roman Catholic Church.
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the brief response or petition in services in the Anglican Church, beginning with the words, “Lord, have mercy upon us.”
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Also called Kyrie. a musical setting of either of these.
noun
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a formal invocation used in the liturgies of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Anglican Churches
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a musical setting of this
Etymology
Origin of Kyrie eleison
1300–50; Middle English kyrieleyson < Medieval Latin, Late Latin Kyrie eleīson < Late Greek Kýrie eléēson Lord, have mercy
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.
From the majestic opening statement of the Kyrie eleison the bloom and richness of the choral sound gloriously resonated within Carnegie Hall.
From New York Times ● Mar. 8, 2012
Mr. Suzuki’s approach was clear from the opening Kyrie eleison, which begins with the chorus, fortified by the orchestra, singing anguished cries of “Lord, have mercy.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 23, 2011
With elegiac melancholy, Beckett intones a Kyrie eleison without God.
From Time Magazine Archive
The immemorial form of the cry for mercy in the devotions of Christendom is the "Kyrie eleison," Lord, have mercy upon us; the immemorial form of assent the word Amen.
From A Short History of the Book of Common Prayer by Huntington, William Reed
"Kyrie eleison," repeated the throng in that murmur which runs over all heads, like the waves of a troubled sea.
From Notre-Dame De Paris by Hapgood, Isabel Florence
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.
