needle in a haystack

See also: needle-in-a-haystack

English

Alternative forms

• needle-in-a-haystack

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

needle in a haystack (plural needles in a haystack or needles in haystacks)

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.

   Synonym: needle in a straw poll

Translations

idiomatic

• Arabic: إِبْرَةٌ فِي كَوْمَةِ قَشٍّ f (ʔibratun fī kawmati qaššin)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大海撈針／大海捞针 (zh) (dàhǎilāozhēn), 大海捞针 (zh) (dàhǎilāozhēn) (verb or verbal noun), 海底撈針／海底捞针 (zh) (hǎidǐlāozhēn)

• Czech: jehla v kupce sena f
• Dutch: naald in een hooiberg
• Finnish: neula heinäsuovassa
• French: chercher une aiguille dans une botte de foin (fr) (verb)
• German: Nadel im Heuhaufen f
• Greek: βελόνα στ' άχυρο f (velóna st' áchyro), ψύλλους στ' άχυρο m pl (psýllous st' áchyro)
• Hebrew: מַחַט בַּעֲרֵמָת שַׁחַת (he) (máẖat ba'aremát sháẖat)
• Hungarian: tű a szénakazalban
• Icelandic: saumnál í heystakki f
• Italian: ago in un pagliaio m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 干し草の山の針 (ほしくさのやまのはり, hoshikusa-no yama-no hari)
• Macedonian: и́гла во стог се́но (ígla vo stog séno)
• Polish: igła w stogu siana f
• Portuguese: agulha num palheiro
• Romanian: acul în carul cu fân n
• Russian: иго́лка в сто́ге се́на f (igólka v stóge séna), иска́ть иго́лку в сто́ге се́на (ru) (iskátʹ igólku v stóge séna)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ѝгла у пла̑сту сије̑на f / ѝгла у пла̑сту се̑на f

  Roman: ìgla u plȃstu sijȇna f / ìgla u plȃstu sȇna f

• Spanish: aguja en un pajar (es)
• Swedish: nål i en höstack
• Turkish: samanlıkta iğne

References

• usingenglish.com idioms reference
• thefreedictionary.com definition