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• grail
  grail

  noun

  Sometimes Grail any greatly desired and sought-after objective; ultimate ideal or reward.
• Grail
  Grail

  noun

  See Holy Grail

grail

American  

[grayl] / greɪl /

noun

• grails
  plural

1. Sometimes Grail any greatly desired and sought-after objective; ultimate ideal or reward.

   The film's protagonist is defined by the struggle for his grail, a championship title he failed to win earlier in life.

2. Often the Grail Holy Grail.

   Weeks pass, and none of the knights return, so King Arthur himself must quest for the Grail.

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Grail British  

/ ɡreɪl /

noun

1. See Holy Grail

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• grails
  plural

Etymology

Origin of grail

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English graiel, graile, from Anglo-French grahel, grayel, Old French gräel, grel, from Medieval Latin gradālis “platter,” of uncertain origin; perhaps distantly connected to Latin crātēr “mixing bowl” ( see crater ( def. )) or crātis “wickerwork” ( see grate ¹ ( def. ))

Explanation

A grail is some valuable thing you search for or pursue. A golfer's holy grail might be a hole in one. While the object of any serious pursuit is commonly described as a "holy grail," many who use the term might not know its origin. The original Holy Grail is a valuable chalice, cup, or plate — often made of gold — that's sought in medieval and Arthurian legends. The influence of Christianity makes the grail "holy," originally because it was said to have been used at the Last Supper. Grail has a Medieval Latin root, gradalis, "flat dish."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grail Grail grails

Jonathan Hurst, chief scientist at Agility, told MarketWatch that it could take one or two decades to make humanoids safe enough for use in households, which experts call the industry’s holy grail.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

Throughout his time, Hibs had a ruinous capacity to concede late goals that checked momentum and made the search for the holy grail of consistency all the harder.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

In early August, Wu made a run for the holy grail of speedruns: New York City.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Experts say the holy grail -- machines capable of independently reacting to the unpredictability of any real-life situation -- is a long way off for any company.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

I cleared the Scoreboard off my display and opened up my grail diary, which had now grown into a vast mountain of data containing every scrap of information I’d collected since the contest began.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

And Grail won’t have the field to itself: Rivals including Abbott, Natera and Guardant Health are developing tests of their own, ready to walk into the market Grail is working so hard to create.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

When Grail announced those results in February, its stock lost half its value in a single day.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

Having non-utility scale, “small modular reactors” that can be mass-produced is the Holy Grail.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Think Lionel Messi finally claiming his personal Holy Grail with Argentina in Doha in 2022.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

“But three of them beat Halliday’s score and are now inside the Grail simulation.”

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

On the subject of holy grails, there’s the first recording by Lenny Kaye, “Crazy Like A Fox,” released under the nom de guerre Link Cromwell.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026

One of the holy grails of trucking is to find a way to reduce the one-third of trips that big rigs are believed to spend hauling empty trailers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

“This has been one of the holy grails of remedying the Korean discount, and there’s at least a 50-50 chance of it passing this year,” he says.

From Barron's ● Dec. 31, 2025

But since then its ambition to track down two holy grails of physics - dark matter and dark energy - have proved elusive and some researchers believe there are cheaper options.

From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2024

Just before sunrise they sprinkle water and meal from beautiful grails; then they all stand with bare heads to watch the rising of the sun.

From Canyons of the Colorado by John Wesley Powell