Lord's Prayer

American

[prair] / prɛər /

noun

the Christian prayer beginning with the words Our Father.

Lord's Prayer British

noun

Also known as: Our Father. Paternoster. the prayer taught by Jesus Christ to his disciples, as in Matthew 6:9–13, Luke 11:2–4

"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

Lord's Prayer Cultural

The prayer Jesus taught his followers in the Sermon on the Mount: “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done, in Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Some versions of the Bible (see also Bible) add words of praise at the end: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”

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The same prayer, with slight variations, is still taught and recited in almost all Christian churches.

Etymology

Origin of Lord's Prayer

First recorded in 1540–50

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.

Once, during a demonstration outside a cafeteria, as police were about to arrest the demonstrators, Jackson suggested they kneel and recite the Lord’s Prayer.

From Los Angeles Times

The Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday is from the sixth chapter of Matthew—the chapter in which Jesus teaches the disciples to recite the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Her camera lingers on a woman whose “answer” to the question “What Is God Like?” is to sing the Lord’s Prayer, and on another who tells through tears of the many ways God has helped her.

From The Wall Street Journal

Protesters, some wearing clerical stoles draped over their shoulders, knelt while singing hymns and reciting the Lord’s Prayer in frigid conditions before being handcuffed and led away, video showed.

From The Wall Street Journal

The latter, from the Lord’s Prayer, is close to the essence of Christianity.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023