Hail Mary
noun
plural Hail Marys
1
: a Roman Catholic prayer to the Virgin Mary that consists of salutations and a plea for her intercession
2
or less commonly Hail Mary pass
: a long forward pass in football thrown into or near the end zone in a last-ditch attempt to score as time runs out
—often used figuratively
The only potential cure is a stem-cell transplant, when you take somebody else's immune system and put it into yours. But right now that's kind of a Hail Mary pass.—
Douglas Cote, quoted in Bicycling
Douglas Cote, quoted in BicyclingExamples of Hail Mary in a Sentence
He threw up a Hail Mary at the end of the first half.
Recent Examples on the Web
Ulrich brings two decades of work at NASA as the agency’s liaison for films and documentaries that required support like The Martian, First Man, Hidden Figures, Ad Astra, Fly Me to the Moon and the upcoming Project Hail Mary project.
—Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 10 July 2025
A good many of them can feel like Hail Mary passes by a brand desperate for growth, or a way to take out a rival, or simply the result of one company overestimating its ability to turn around another.
—Jim Edwards, Fortune, 1 July 2025
Ryan Gosling is a middle school teacher who is tasked with a mission somehow more impossible than getting his students to care, well, about anything, in the first trailer for Project Hail Mary.
—Althea Legaspi, Rolling Stone, 30 June 2025
Project Hail Mary is slated to hit theaters on March 20, 2026.
—ArsTechnica, 30 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for Hail Mary
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Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 10 July 2025
A good many of them can feel like Hail Mary passes by a brand desperate for growth, or a way to take out a rival, or simply the result of one company overestimating its ability to turn around another.
—Jim Edwards, Fortune, 1 July 2025
Ryan Gosling is a middle school teacher who is tasked with a mission somehow more impossible than getting his students to care, well, about anything, in the first trailer for Project Hail Mary.
—Althea Legaspi, Rolling Stone, 30 June 2025
Project Hail Mary is slated to hit theaters on March 20, 2026.
—ArsTechnica, 30 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for Hail Mary
Cite this Entry
“Hail Mary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Hail%20Mary. Accessed 19 Jul. 2025.
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