Hail Mary

noun

plural Hail Marys

1

: a Roman Catholic prayer to the Virgin Mary that consists of salutations and a plea for her intercession

2

or less commonly Hail Mary pass : a long forward pass in football thrown into or near the end zone in a last-ditch attempt to score as time runs out

—often used figuratively

The only potential cure is a stem-cell transplant, when you take somebody else's immune system and put it into yours. But right now that's kind of a Hail Mary pass.

—Douglas Cote, quoted in Bicycling

Examples of Hail Mary in a Sentence

He threw up a Hail Mary at the end of the first half.

Recent Examples on the Web

The film Project Hail Mary has just blasted past the milestone of $400 million revenue globally and is generating early Oscar buzz. —Tara Haelle, NPR, 12 Apr. 2026

Also competing is two-time Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales; Drive My Car Oscar nominee Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden; and Cold War director Paweł Pawlikowski’s new movie Fatherland, starring Sandra Hüller, fresh off the success of Project Hail Mary. —Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 9 Apr. 2026

Streep most recently voiced a character in Pixar's Hoppers and made a funny voice cameo in Ryan Gosling's Project Hail Mary. —Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 9 Apr. 2026

Released in March, the new sci-fi flick ‘Project Hail Mary’ features Puerto Rican puppeteer James Ortiz, who stars opposite Ryan Gosling. —Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 7 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

translation of Medieval Latin Ave, Maria, from the opening words

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for Hail Mary

• askari
• astbury
• azeri
• banbury
• barberry
• blackberry
• blueberry
• canary
• cranberry
• dentary
• dewberry
• dogberry

Kids Definition

Hail Mary

noun

-ˈme(ə)r-ē, 

-ˈma(ə)r-ē, 

-ˈmā-rē

: a Roman Catholic prayer to the Virgin Mary