make a mountain out of a molehill

English

WOTD – 29 August 2006

Pronunciation

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Verb

make a mountain out of a molehill

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To treat a problem as greater than it is; to blow something out of proportion; to exaggerate the importance of something trivial.

   If you’re stuck in traffic, try not to make a mountain out of a molehill worrying about it too much. It could be much worse.

   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 7

     "It is only an old umbrella, isn't it?" she asked.

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

Translations

to treat a problem as greater than it is

• Armenian: լվից ուղտ շինել (lvicʻ uġt šinel, literally “to make a camel out of a louse”)
• Catalan: fer-ne una muntanya (d'un gra de sorra)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小題大作／小题大作 (zh) (xiǎotídàzuò), 小题大作 (zh) (xiǎotídàzuò) (lit. "to make a big work out of a small topic")

• Czech: dělat z komára velblouda (cs)
• Danish: gøre en myg til en elefant (literally “to turn a mosquito into an elephant”)
• Dutch: van een mug een olifant maken (nl) (literally “to make an elephant out of a mosquito”), (Flanders also) van een muis een olifant maken
• Esperanto: fari el muŝo elefanton
• Estonian: teha sääsest elevant
• Finnish: tehdä kärpäsestä härkänen
• French: faire une montagne d’une souris (literally “to make an elephant out of a mouse”), faire une montagne d’une taupinière (literally “to make a mountain out of a molehill”), se noyer dans un verre d’eau (fr) (literally “to drown in a glass of water”)
• German: aus einer Mücke einen Elefanten machen (de) (literally “to make an elephant out of a mosquito”)
• Greek: πνίγομαι σε μια κουταλιά νερό (pnígomai se mia koutaliá neró)
• Hebrew: רָאָה צֵל הָרִים כְּהָרִים (raá tsel harím keharím), עָשָׂה מִזְּבוּב פִּיל ('asá mizvúv pil), עָשָׂה מֵעַכְבָּר הַר ('asá me'akhbár har)
• Hindi: राई का पहाड बनाना (rāī kā pahāḍ banānā)
• Hungarian: bolhából elefántot csinál
• Icelandic: gera úlfalda úr mýflugu (is)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: fare di una mosca un elefante (literally “to make an elephant out of a mosquito”)
• Kazakh: түймедейді түйедей ету (tüimedeidı tüiedei etu)
• Korean: 침소봉대 (針小棒大, chim-so-bong-dae, literally “pin-thin (goes) stick-thick”), 견문발검 (ko) (見蚊拔劒, gyeon-mun-bal-geom, literally “to see a mosquito and draw a sword”), 노승발검 (怒蠅拔劒, no-seung-bal-geom)
• Kurdish:
• Latin: nodum in scirpo quero
• Norwegian: gjøre en fjær til fem høns
• Polish: robić z igły widły (pl)
• Portuguese: fazer tempestade em copo d'água (literally “to make a storm in a glass of water”)
• Romanian: a face din țânțar armǎsar
• Russian: де́лать из му́хи слона́ (ru) (délatʹ iz múxi sloná, literally “to make an elephant of a fly”)
• Slovak: urobiť z komára somára
• Slovene: narediti iz muhe slona
• Spanish: hacer una montaña de un grano de arena (literally “to make a mountain out of a grain of sand”), hacer de una pulga un elefante (literally “to make an elephant out of a flea”), ahogarse en un vaso de agua (literally “to drown in a glass of water”)
• Swedish: göra en höna av en fjäder (sv) (literally “to make a hen out of a feather”)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: pireyi deve yapmak (tr)
• Vietnamese: chuyện bé xé ra to

See also

• blow out of proportion
• federal case
• magnify
• make a big thing out of
• sweat the small stuff