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white whale

American

noun

beluga.

white whale British

noun

Also called: beluga. a small white toothed whale, Delphinapterus leucas, of northern waters: family Monodontidae

"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

Etymology

Origin of white whale

First recorded in 1680–90

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.

Once the leviathan of profit for companies like Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific, pelvic mesh was now the white whale of liability for mass tort plaintiffs’ attorneys.

From Slate • Jan. 13, 2026

Kent’s jet-black sea is indistinguishable from the cosmos, and his white whale glows like some luminary body within it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

"China is Mark Zuckerberg's white whale," meaning a goal that he obsessively pursued, says Ms Wynn-Williams.

From BBC • Mar. 10, 2025

Taking Pyongyang’s nuclear program off the board is Trump’s proverbial white whale, a feat that none of his predecessors managed to accomplish.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 7, 2025

“You would. Big white whale is a metaphor for everything. You live for pretentious metaphors.”

From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023