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

Mendes gave the Barbie actor's upcoming movie Project Hail Mary a shout-out in the NSFW photo dump. —Lara Walsh, InStyle, 16 Feb. 2026

Global audiences will be seeing plenty more of Hüller in the next 12 months with starring roles to come in high-profile Hollywood movies Digger and Project Hail Mary. —Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 15 Feb. 2026

Also Project Hail Mary, just because there are no bad space movies, just like there are no bad heist movies. —Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 15 Feb. 2026

Project Hail Mary arrives from Amazon MGM Studios on March 20. —Aaron Couch, HollywoodReporter, 8 Feb. 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