'anti-liturgically' originates from modern English, formed by the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti' meaning 'against') combined with 'liturgical' (from Greek 'leitourgia'), where 'leitourgia' meant 'public service' or 'work of the people'.

'leitourgia' (Greek) passed into Late Latin as 'liturgia' and into Middle English as 'liturgie' (Old French/Latin influences), becoming modern English 'liturgy' and the adjective 'liturgical'; the prefix 'anti-' was attached to form 'anti-liturgical', and the adverbial suffix '-ly' produced 'anti-liturgically'.

Initially, the root 'leitourgia' referred to 'public service' or 'work for the people'; over time it narrowed to mean 'formal worship rites' or 'ceremonial public worship'; with the prefix 'anti-' the compound's meaning shifted to 'opposed to those rites'.