chalice
Americannoun
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chalices
plural
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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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
The Dundon family comprises the entire first two rows of names on the iconic chalice, even though Papa Dundon is the only one who holds a position within the organization.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
"It's kind of a poisoned chalice for any Chinese defence minister to speak out publicly," said Jennifer Parker, adjunct professor at the University of Western Australia's Defence and Security Institute.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
Well, in the words of Will Young, who turned down the chance to represent the UK in 2015, Eurovision is considered a "poisoned chalice".
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
To end the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the regime’s first supreme leader, made the difficult call to end the fighting, a decision he likened to drinking from a poisoned chalice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 2026
On the first step of the stairwell, a golden chalice gleamed.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
It’s a constant conundrum of global athletic events, pursued as chalices by complicated hosts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
The density of the ornament is matched only by its cheapness, with chalices lined up on the mantelpiece like the decorator raided the trophy case of a middle-school gymnasium.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2025
During communion, a procession of white-clad priests made its way down St Peter's Square, carrying golden chalices full of wafers for communion, as many in the large crowd moved forward to receive the hosts.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2025
Tulips can range from ground-hugging wild types that flower just a few inches above the soil to long-stemmed chalices on stalks rising to 30 inches.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 11, 2021
The tulips along the border are redder than ever, opening, no longer wine cups but chalices; thrusting themselves up, to what end?
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
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.
