white whale

noun

1

: beluga sense 2

2

or less commonly great white whale : something (such as a goal or object) that is obsessively pursued

… Apple's white whale these days seems to be developing a car.

—Steven Levy

It was the old man's white whale, the holy grail shining at the end of the dream, on and off the rails, as he chased scripts, directors, and movie stars of the proper magnitude.

—Rich Cohen

For drug makers, developing the first Alzheimer's therapy has long been seen as the great white whale: the toughest challenge and biggest opportunity.

—Robert Weisman

Illustration of white whale

• white whale 1

Examples of white whale in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But in recent years, New Jersey has been something of a white whale for Republicans. —W. James Antle Iii, The Washington Examiner, 4 Nov. 2025

Rayquaza This story’s white whale is a black dragon: Horizon’s Rayquaza may be the biggest, fiercest and most elusive shiny Pokémon introduced in the anime to date. —Jack Smart, PEOPLE, 10 Oct. 2025

And while reaching Cabrillo Beach with his body, mind and mushroom boat still intact was Shoemaker’s ultimate white whale, an actual whale became the artist’s unlikely guardian on his trek. —Emily St. Martin, Oc Register, 9 Oct. 2025

This was Costner’s white whale, a $200 million Western that made Dances With Wolves look like a Sundance indie. —Peter Kiefer, HollywoodReporter, 8 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

(sense 2) after the white sperm whale obsessively hunted by Captain Ahab in Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick (1851)

First Known Use

1635, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for white whale

• abigail
• cottontail
• countervail
• fingernail
• martingale
• mesoscale
• microscale
• monorail
• nanoscale
• ponytail
• swallowtail
• wensleydale