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View synonyms for molehill

molehill

[ mohl-hil ]

noun

  1. a small mound or ridge of earth raised up by a mole or moles mole burrowing under the ground.


molehill

/ ˈməʊlˌhɪl /

noun

  1. the small mound of earth thrown up by a burrowing mole
  2. make a mountain out of a molehill
    to exaggerate an unimportant matter out of all proportion


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Word History and Origins

Origin of molehill1

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; mole 1, hill

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. make a mountain out of a molehill, to exaggerate a minor difficulty.

More idioms and phrases containing molehill

see make a mountain out of a molehill .

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Example Sentences

In both cases, the minority party on both committees thinks the majority is making a mountain out of a molehill.

It is the rawest example yet of our 2013, Twitter-loving, insta-pundit, mountain-out-of-a-molehill media culture.

But is this merely a case of making a mountain out of a molehill—or is there a legitimate reason to be upset?

From a policy point of view, it seems a ludicrous molehill to struggle over.

Few diplomatic events are more embarrassing than a summit that turns into a molehill.

Gran'ma said they were making a mounting out of a molehill—and expelling people did the school no good.

Call it, great lady, by another name; An humble modesty, that would not matchA molehill with Olympus.

She wondered why he, who did not usually trouble over trifles, made such a mountain of this molehill.

To "remind us of Dickens" would be as difficult for many modern novelists as for a molehill to remind us of the Matterhorn.

There is also such a thing as making nothing out of a molehill, in consequence of your head being too high to see it.

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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