white whale

noun

1
2
or less commonly great white whale : something (such as a goal or object) that is obsessively pursued
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

Illustration of white whale
  • white whale 1

Examples of white whale in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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By getting one of the world’s most powerful drug companies to finally agree to his demands, Trump has caught a white whale. Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic, 2 Oct. 2025 The film has remained in the vault for years since, becoming somewhat of a white whale for the director’s fans. J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 1 Oct. 2025 Removing the sales tax from fuel sales has been the elusive white whale in decades of road funding discussions. Paul Egan, Freep.com, 26 Sep. 2025 Karen Read is Meatball’s white whale. Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 24 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for white whale

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of white whale was in 1635

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Cite this Entry

“White whale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/white%20whale. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

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