chalice
Americannoun
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Ecclesiastical.
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a cup for the wine of the Eucharist or Mass.
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the wine contained in it.
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a drinking cup or goblet.
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a cuplike blossom.
noun
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poetic a drinking cup; goblet
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Christianity a gold or silver cup containing the wine at Mass
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the calyx of a flower, esp a cup-shaped calyx
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of chalice
before 900; Middle English < Middle French < Latin calici- (stem of calix ) cup; replacing Middle English caliz, calc, Old English calic < Latin calici-, as above
Explanation
A chalice is a bowl-shaped drinking vessel. Chalices were all the rage back in King Arthur's day. You won't come across the word chalice very often today (outside of books, anyway) unless you hang out at those Renaissance fairs where everyone dresses up as knights. The term "poisoned chalice" is good for describing something that looks beneficial, but is actually harmful.
Vocabulary lists containing chalice
"Macbeth": Act 1 Scene 7
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The Poet X
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Novel Study: Macbeth, Acts 1–2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The bank upgrades Chalice to buy, from neutral, and raises its price target by 57% to A$2.75/share.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2026
Along with olives, Chalice Farm also grows perennial vegetables, fruit and nuts on their sunshine-drenched land surrounded by creeks and forested ridge.
From Salon • Nov. 2, 2024
I was writing The Chalice and the Blade, but I didn’t really show it to him until 1984.
From Scientific American • Sep. 28, 2023
Somewhat cryptically titled “Life After BOB: The Chalice Study,” it is a commentary on the potential of A.I. to mess up your life.
From New York Times • Aug. 27, 2021
His masterpiece, 'The Chalice of the Sacrament,' crowned with a stately wreath, and sheaves of corn and bunches of grapes among the flowers, is at Vienna.
From The Old Masters and Their Pictures For the Use of Schools and Learners in Art by Tytler, Sarah
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
