ENGLISH
REFERENCE

baby elephant in the room

idiom
Meaning

An obvious but mostly inconsequential issue.


Origin

disputed origin

baby + elephant in the room

Examples
SIMPLE

We should talk about the baby elephant in the room.

CONTEXTUAL

The minor typo on the menu was the baby elephant in the room that everyone noticed but nobody mentioned.

COMPLEX

While the committee focused on the major budget crisis, the baby elephant in the room remained the outdated office coffee machine that everyone quietly disliked.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    assume room temperature

    To die; to be killed.

  2. 02

    baby and bathwater

    Used in reference to an error in which something valuable is discarded in the process of removing or rejecting something unwanted.

  3. 03

    baby step

    A small effort made towards the completion of a much larger task.

  4. 04

    baby up

    To treat as a baby.

  5. 05

    basin of gravy

    [Cockney slang]baby

  6. 06

    be left holding the baby

    To be left with the responsibility of resolving a problem.

  7. 07

    eat an elephant one bite at a time

    To do something one step at a time; to do something in steps rather than all at once.

  8. 08

    elephant in the room

    A problem or difficult issue that is very obvious, but is ignored for the convenience or comfort of those involved.

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