offertory
Americannoun
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(sometimes initial capital letter) the offering of the unconsecrated elements that is made to God by the celebrant in a Eucharistic service.
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Ecclesiastical.
noun
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the oblation of the bread and wine at the Eucharist
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the offerings of the worshippers at this service
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the prayers said or sung while the worshippers' offerings are being received
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of offertory
1350–1400; Middle English offertorie < Medieval Latin offertōrium place to which offerings are brought, offering, oblation, equivalent to Latin offer ( re ) ( see offer) + -tōrium -tory 2; cf. oblation
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.
See Examples For:
As the priest then began the offertory portion of the liturgy, which often is accompanied by quiet music, the organist played a reflective piece very slowly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025
Whidden, a tenor, sang an offertory song titled “The Anchor Holds.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2025
Documents filed with the bankruptcy court on Thursday show that COVID-19 and social distancing restrictions led to smaller offertory collections at the 135 parishes on Long Island since March.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 1, 2020
The mainstream churches are complying and many are offering online services, which include provisions for offertory to be made through mobile money donations.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2020
I watched them as they came up for offertory.
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
They consist chiefly of church music, 17 masses, besides litanies, motets, offertories, &c., being amongst the number.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 4 "G" to "Gaskell, Elizabeth" by Various
I venture to say that a parish which confines its offertories to local and parochial purposes will lose by the very contraction of its sympathies.
From Churchwardens' Manual their duties, powers, rights, and privilages by Sumner, George Henry
Father Burrowes was even more successful as a preacher than he hoped; ascribing the steady flow of offertories to Divine favour, he instituted during the next four years, priories at Aldershot and Sandgate.
From The Altar Steps by MacKenzie, Compton
After the ceremony we heard mass and contributed to three distinct offertories.
From Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, First Series by Brown, Horatio Robert Forbes
No offertories, which in towns greatly help the clergy, can make the country deficiency good.
From Social Transformations of the Victorian Age A Survey of Court and Country by Escott, T. H. S. (Thomas Hay Sweet)
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.
