Meaning & use
quest
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Meanings
nouncountable
A long and determined search or journey made to find or achieve something that matters a great deal.
Grammar: Often followed by for: a quest for truth.
Patterns
- a quest for something
- on a quest to do something
- in quest of something
The knights set out on a quest to find the lost crown.
Her quest for a cure took her across three continents.
The team's quest for the title ended in the final.
nouncountable
In games and stories, a mission or task that a character must complete to earn a reward or move the plot forward.
Grammar: Plural is common in games: side quests.
Patterns
- complete a quest
- a side quest
I stopped the main story to finish a quest in the village.
Each quest gives the player gold and new gear.
The film follows a simple quest to destroy a ring.
verbintransitiveliteraryold-fashioned
To search for something over a long time, especially in a determined or noble way.
Grammar: No object; often followed by for or after: quest for glory.
Patterns
- quest for something
- quest after something
The explorers quested for a river that no map showed.
Poets have always quested after beauty.
He quested for years in search of his missing brother.
Word forms
| plural | quests |
|---|---|
| third person singular | quests |
| past tense | quested |
| -ing form | questing |
Common combinations
- embark on a quest
- She embarked on a quest to trace her family history.
- a quest for knowledge
- His quest for knowledge led him to study five languages.
- a quest for perfection
- The chef's quest for perfection exhausted his staff.
- a noble quest
- They saw the rescue mission as a noble quest.
- a fruitless quest
- It turned out to be a fruitless quest for the missing keys.
Synonyms and how they differ
- search
- Search is the plain, everyday word and can be brief, while quest suggests a long effort with a serious purpose.
- pursuit
- Pursuit stresses chasing a goal, and it is less tied to a journey or adventure than quest.
- expedition
- An expedition is an organized journey by a group, but it need not involve searching for something precious.
- crusade
- A crusade is a campaign for a cause and implies strong moral conviction, which quest does not require.
Word family
- questing adjective
- eager and searching, as in a questing mind
- quester noun
- a person on a quest
- question noun
- related by origin; something asked in order to find out
Commonly confused: quest or question?
quest vs question
A question is something you ask, while a quest is a long search or mission.
Practice
The hero's ___ to find the hidden spring took him over mountains and deserts.
Choose one answer.
Quest is a long search for something important. Request and conquest contain similar letters but mean asking and winning by force, and inquest is an official investigation.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “quest”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.