Magnificat

[ mag-nif-i-kat, -kaht; mahg-nif-i-kaht, mahn-yif- ]

noun
  1. (italics) the hymn of the Virgin Mary in Luke, 1:46–55, beginning “My soul doth magnify the Lord,” used as a canticle at evensong or vespers.

  2. a musical setting for this.

Origin of Magnificat

1
1150–1200; Middle English <Latin: (it) magnifies (from the first word of the hymn)

Words Nearby Magnificat

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

How to use Magnificat in a sentence

  • This so-called “Madonna of the Magnificat” was painted in Florence around 1485 by Sandro Botticelli and his team.

    Paul Allen Goes Old Master | Blake Gopnik | October 8, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • I hope Wilson—that's our second thurifer—won't go wrong in the Magnificat.

    Sinister Street, vol. 1 | Compton Mackenzie
  • The splendours of the Magnificat died away to a silence and one of the clergy stepped from his place to read the Second Lesson.

    Sinister Street, vol. 1 | Compton Mackenzie
  • How wearily and with what sadness Madonna writes Magnificat, or dreams of the love that even now is come into her arms!

  • I have a special, undiluted dislike of one picture,—the Magnificat.

    My New Curate | P.A. Sheehan
  • I sent the poor Magnificat to the Royal Academy in the spring of 1871.

    An Autobiography | Elizabeth Butler

British Dictionary definitions for Magnificat

Magnificat

/ (mæɡˈnɪfɪˌkæt) /


noun
  1. Christianity the hymn of the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:46-55), used as a canticle

Origin of Magnificat

1
from the opening phrase in the Latin version, Magnificat anima mea Dominum (my soul doth magnify the Lord)

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