adjective
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of or relating to public worship
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of or relating to the liturgy
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of liturgical
1635–45; < Medieval Latin lītūrgic ( us ) < Late Greek leitourgikós ministering ( leitourg ( ós ) minister + -ikos -ic; see liturgy) + -al 1
Explanation
Anything liturgical is related to a public religious service or ritual. An example of something liturgical is the Catholic service when the Eucharist (wine and sacramental bread, also known as the blood and body of Christ) is given. If you hear about a liturgical tradition or liturgical reading, you can be sure of one thing — it involves a religious service. The liturgy is a set way of doing a religious ritual, so anything liturgical usually happens in a church. Other times, a liturgical ceremony could be part of some other tradition, ritual, or service. Religious scholars and clergy are experts on liturgical matters.
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.
The film is such a Christmas perennial it verges on the liturgical, and why not?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
That involves “rising before dawn to begin the day with liturgical prayer and returning to church periodically during the day for further prayer together.”
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 24, 2026
“Missa Solemnis” follows the standard mass text but doesn’t necessarily follow the liturgical narrative.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026
Many Roman festive practices did find sanctuary in the medieval liturgical calendar, in modified and Christianized form.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024
The idea of discovery simply could not take hold in a culture so preoccupied with Biblical chronology and liturgical repetition on the one hand, and secular ideas of rebirth, recurrence and reinterpretation on the other.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
