Meanings
plural acroteleutics
- obsoleteChristianityThe end of a verse or psalm, or something added to it, to be sung by the people by way of a response.
And this they would generally keep for an Acroteleutic at the end of their psalms.
1887, A History of Music: book III. The decline of paganism and the dark ages2 more examples
This mode of conducting the psalmody was sometimes called singing acrostics and acroteleutics, and is the apparent origin of the Gloria Patri repeated at the end of each psalm in our liturgical services.
1853, John Farrar, An Ecclesiastical DictionaryAnd in this respect the Gloria Patri itself is by some ancient writers called the hypopsalma or epode, and acroteleutic to the psalms, because it was always used at the end of the psalms.
1855, Richard Bingham, The antiquities of the Christian church, page 18
Origin
- Ancient Greekἀκροτελεύτιον“extreme end”
- Englishacroteleutic
From Ancient Greek ἀκροτελεύτιον (akroteleútion, “extreme end”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
acroteleutic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acroteleutic
“acroteleutic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acroteleutic. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “acroteleutic,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acroteleutic.
Source: acroteleutic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.