Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🐢 Slow and steady 🎵 A church hymn
gradual

gradual

9.9
A short song from the Psalms sung during Mass after the reading
  • noun
  • /ˈɡrædʒuəl/
  • Formal
translation icon : gradual
  • Each Sunday, a different gradual is chosen to enhance the liturgy.

Examples

  • During the Mass, the choir beautifully sang the gradual from the Book of Psalms.

  • Well, maybe I better cut down on my gambling gradual.

    Cabin in the Sky (1943)

  • A healthy, properly thinned gradual may yield up to one thousand poles.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Also on the Psalms—that's one more reason to use the Gradual, in either the approved vernacular or the Latin.

    Blog text (15)

  • The priest recited a gradual that touched the hearts of the congregation.

Synonyms

psalm
vsgradual
67 8.1

A sacred song from the Bible used in prayer

is a specific liturgical chant sung after the epistle at Mass

Surface Forms

gradual singular
graduals plural

Etymology

Gradual for the church chant also comes from the Latin gradus meaning 'step', because the song was sung when the priest moved to a step at the altar. So the name refers to that 'step' in the service.