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.

Synonyms

• needle in a straw poll

Translations

idiomatic

• 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)
• Turkish: samanlıkta iğne (tr)

References

• usingenglish.com idioms reference
• thefreedictionary.com definition