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morning prayer

morning prayer

4 5.0
A short prayer service at dawn in a church
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : oración matutina
  • The bell rings for morning prayers.
  • say your morning prayer
  • chanting morning prayers
  • morning prayer service

Examples

  • Morning prayers are at quarter to 9:00.

  • Now, let's bow our heads for the morning prayer.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Maybe as a thank you, you can lead us all in morning prayer.

  • In the morning prayer, everybody will come to know.

  • I have included you in my morning prayer.

    Blog text (23)
  • Well, let's do our morning prayer, okay?

  • I must get ready for morning prayers.

  • If I miss the morning prayer, I pray twice in the afternoon.

  • I once walked into the dining room when my father was saying his morning prayers.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Every day before dawn, the church holds morning prayer to begin the day with devotion.

Synonyms

matins
vsmorning prayer
  • Formal
1 9.9

A morning church service of prayers and short readings

is the same canonical early prayer hour but expressed as a common English phrase

How Late

night night
  • Baby Talk
2 6.0
Evening Prayer
  • Formal
1 8.7
noonday prayer
  • Formal
7.1
morning prayer
  • Specialized
4 5.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

morning + prayer

The phrase 'morning prayer' is directly compositional: 'morning' (the early part of the day) + 'prayer' (an act of speaking to a deity) yields the straightforward meaning of a prayer said in the morning. While the definition mentions a specific liturgical canonical hour, the core sense is predictable and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will understand it.

Etymology

Morning prayer comes from the simple picture of people gathering at dawn to say a short prayer in the morning before the day begins. That's why it means 'the first prayer of the day'.