prayer beads
Americanplural noun
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of prayer beads
First recorded in 1620–30
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.
It paid homage to a nurse’s steady hands, to a mother’s prayer beads slipping through her fingers, and to a belief that our stories do not end at the point of collapse.
From Slate • Mar. 29, 2026
A teenager draws his slingshot, while fighters holding prayer beads take control of a Soviet tank, and peasants clutching pitchforks face Soviet soldiers.
From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026
"They were not just colleagues but friends", Munther says, nervously running prayer beads through his fingers.
From BBC • Apr. 2, 2025
When the megaphone called out for the daily Islamic prayers, the nonbeliever grabbed his prayer beads and ambled through the streets to join others at the mosque in Kano, northern Nigeria’s largest city.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 4, 2023
Her husband, a burly man in baggy pants and sky blue turban, cradled an infant in one arm and thumbed prayer beads with his free hand.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
