quest
a search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something: a quest for uranium mines;a quest for knowledge.
Classical and Medieval Legend. an adventurous expedition undertaken by a knight or knights to secure or achieve something: the quest of the Holy Grail.
those engaged in such an expedition.
British Dialect. inquest.
Obsolete. a jury of inquest.
to search; seek (often followed by for or after): to quest after hidden treasure.
to go on a quest.
Hunting. (of a dog)
to search for game.
to bay or give tongue in pursuit of game.
to search or seek for; pursue.
Origin of quest
1word story For quest
Quest in the hunting sense “baying of hounds” first appears in the wonderful Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (about 1390). In Arthurian and chivalric romances, quest in the sense “an expedition undertaken by a knight or band of knights to attain a specific goal” dates from Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur (1485).
Other words for quest
| 1 | hunt, pursuit, search, seeking; journey, mission, undertaking |
Other words from quest
- quester, noun
- quest·ing·ly, adverb
- un·quest·ed, adjective
Words Nearby quest
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use quest in a sentence
Nobody should have to face repression in their quest for freedom.
Blade contributor participates in congressional roundtable on ICE abuses | Staff reports | August 26, 2020 | Washington BladeThis has also led DeFi traders to hop around to different exchanges in their yield farming quest, sometimes with disastrous results.
This heartwarming documentary follows the life of Saskatchewan-born model Ashley Luther, aka Elly Mayday, and her quest to champion the body positivity movement in an industry that really didn’t want to hear it.
The last thing that most people would do is call poker, with its competition, its winners and losers, its quest to gain the maximum edge over your opponent, a haven of safety.
The Deck Is Not Rigged: Poker and the Limits of AI | Maria Konnikova | August 7, 2020 | Singularity HubPowered by this strong financial incentive, the quest for automation is growing ever more pervasive.
The Global Work Crisis: Automation, the Case Against Jobs, and What to Do About It | Peter Xing | August 6, 2020 | Singularity Hub
Our quest for better leaders—“Change we can believe in”— is wishful thinking.
In our headlong quest for a legally perfect society, we don’t take the time to take stock of what‘s been created so far.
Hammerstein continued his subtle quest for racial equanimity in Oklahoma!
When Broadway Musicals Were Dark And Subversive | Laurence Maslon | December 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut sometimes, the quest for facts lets us down, or leads us astray, and leaves us worse off than before, not better.
She began her quest for equal rights shortly after her three-month sentence.
A Quorum For Change: The Fight For Global LGBT Equality | Justin Jones | December 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThey had searched Mortlake House for Alice, and that vain quest had not wasted more than half-an-hour.
Checkmate | Joseph Sheridan Le FanuThere he stood still for a few seconds and looked around him as if in quest of something.
The Garret and the Garden | R.M. BallantyneHe was sent from one place to another, in quest of his friend, and made diligent use of his long legs, but without success.
The Garret and the Garden | R.M. BallantyneIn this quest many paintings, sculptures, and inscriptions were destroyed or defaced of which no record has been preserved.
The Catacombs of Rome | William Henry WithrowThe Englishman went to see how big the tiger was while I led Kari in quest of my broken flute.
Kari the Elephant | Dhan Gopal Mukerji
British Dictionary definitions for quest
/ (kwɛst) /
the act or an instance of looking for or seeking; search: a quest for diamonds
(in medieval romance) an expedition by a knight or company of knights to accomplish some prescribed task, such as finding the Holy Grail
the object of a search; goal or target: my quest is the treasure of the king
rare a collection of alms
(foll by for or after) to go in search (of)
to go on a quest
(of gun dogs or hounds)
to search for game
to bay when in pursuit of game
rare to collect alms
(also tr) archaic to go in search of (a thing); seek or pursue
Origin of quest
1Derived forms of quest
- quester, noun
- questing, adjective
- questingly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with quest
see under in search of.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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