needle in a haystack

English

Alternative forms

• needle-in-a-haystack

Noun

needle in a haystack (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) Something that is difficult or impossible to locate; something impossibly complex or intractable.

   You'll never find the paper you need on her desk. You're looking for a needle in a haystack.

Translations

idiom

Chinese: Mandarin: 大海撈針 (cmn), 大海捞针 (cmn) (dàhǎilāozhēn) Czech: jehla v kupce sena (cs) f. Dutch: naald in een hooiberg (nl) Finnish: neula heinäsuovassa (fi) French: aiguille dans une botte de foin (fr) f. German: Nadel im Heuhaufen (de) f. Hungarian: tű a szénakazalban (hu) Icelandic: saumnál í heystakki (is) f. Italian: ago in un pagliaio (it) m. Japanese: 干し草の山の針 (ja) (ほしくさのやまのはり, hoshikusa-no yama-no hari)

Macedonian: игла во стог сено (mk) (ígla vo stog séno) Polish: igła w stogu siana (pl) f. Portuguese: agulha num palheiro (pt) Russian: иголка в стоге сена (ru) (igólka v stóge séna) f. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ѝгла у пла̑сту сије̑на (sh) f. / ѝгла у пла̑сту се̑на (sh) f. Roman: ìgla u plȃstu sijȇna (sh) f. / ìgla u plȃstu sȇna (sh) f. Swedish: nål i en höstack (sv)

References

• usingenglish.com idioms reference
• thefreedictionary.com definition