a search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something: a quest for uranium mines; a quest for knowledge.
Medieval Romance. 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.
BritishDialect. inquest.
Obsolete. a jury of inquest.
verb (used without object)
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.
verb (used with object)
to search or seek for; pursue.
Origin of quest
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English noun queste, from Old French, from Latin quaesīta, feminine past participle of quaerere “to seek”; Middle English verb derivative of the noun
SYNONYMS FOR quest
1 hunt, seeking, journey, mission, enterprise.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR quest ON THESAURUS.COM
historical usage of quest
The Middle English noun quest, originally meaning “inquest, judicial inquiry,” also, in hunting, “a search after game, baying of hounds,” comes partly from Old French queste with the same meanings. Quest also comes from Medieval Latin questa, quaesta, short for rēs quaesita, “a thing sought out, a question,” from the feminine past participle of quaerere “to try to find, seek, seek out.” 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).
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 Blade
This has also led DeFi traders to hop around to different exchanges in their yield farming quest, sometimes with disastrous results.
Crypto soars again as traders embrace ‘DeFi’ and ‘yield farming’—but some see echoes of the 2017 bubble|Jeff|August 25, 2020|Fortune
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.
This Weekend: You’ll Never Bathe the Same Way Again|Joshua Eferighe|August 21, 2020|Ozy
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 Hub
Powered 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.
Red Tape Is Strangling Good Samaritans|Philip K. Howard|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But sometimes, the quest for facts lets us down, or leads us astray, and leaves us worse off than before, not better.
On Torture, Chuck Johnson & Sondheim|James Poulos|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
Evidence of the interest of this respected figure propelled Vieira on his quest.
Hunting for a Real-Life Hagrid|Nina Strochlic|November 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Where does the quest for beauty and hedonistic impulses begin and end?