great white hope
great white hope noun: a highly skilled white/Caucasian challenger for leadership in a field whose top ranks are dominated by non-Caucasians; especially a field which was once dominated by white Caucasians, and is now dominated by those of black-African descent.
Noun
great white hope (plural great white hopes)
- A highly skilled white/Caucasian challenger for leadership in a field whose top ranks are dominated by non-Caucasians; especially a field which was once dominated by white Caucasians, and is now dominated by those of black-African descent.
- A person expected to succeed and bring prestige to their native group.
- The arrest of Christo — who three times has run unsuccessfully for selectperson in Provincetown and who has been a leading proponent of the proposal to establish a [gay] community radio station here — caused the biggest stir. Considered once by many to be Provincetown's "liberal great white hope,"...1977 August 20, “7 Arrested in Undercover Raid on P'town Bar”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 7, page 1
Proper noun capitalized: Great White Hope
the Great White Hope
- Nickname for Q22686 (born 1946), President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025).
Forms of great white hope
| plural | great white hopes |
|---|---|
| alternative form | white hope |
Origin of great white hope
Coined in the early 20th century, first appearing in 1910; during a period when African-American heavyweight champion boxer Jack Johnson seemed unbeatable by a Caucasian boxer. A term that first gained prominence with James J. Jeffries' return from retirement to fight Jack Johnson in 1910. Following this, a wave of white fighters, many with no prior boxing experience, suddenly took up the sport in hopes of defeating him. In what became a racially charged search for a white boxer to reclaim the title. With many of them collectively referred to as "White Hopes." The term was repopularized in the late-mid 1900s with the appearance of the play and film "The Great White Hope"; and its definition extended beyond boxing and Caucasians.
Coined by white supremacists during the 2016 United States presidential election.
Questions about great white hope
- What does great white hope mean?
- Great white hope means a highly skilled white/Caucasian challenger for leadership in a field whose top ranks are dominated by non-Caucasians; especially a field which was once dominated by white Caucasians, and is now dominated by those of black-African descent.
- What part of speech is great white hope?
- Great white hope can be a noun or a proper noun.
- What is the plural of great white hope?
- The plural of great white hope is great white hopes.
Words near great white hope in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: great white hope (page history and authors); Great White Hope (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “great white hope.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/great_white_hope. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.