English Reference
Idiom idiom

baby elephant in the room


An obvious but mostly inconsequential issue.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.


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While the committee focused on the major budget crisis, the baby elephant in the room remained the outdated office coffee machine that everyone quietly disliked.


baby + elephant in the room


Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    assume room temperature

    To die; to be killed.

  2. 02

    babies in the eyes

    The minute reflection which one sees of oneself in the eyes of another.

  3. 03

    baby and bathwater

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

  4. 04

    baby step

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

  5. 05

    baby up

    To treat as a baby.

  6. 06

    basin of gravy

    [Cockney slang]baby

  7. 07

    be left holding the baby

    To be left with the responsibility of resolving a problem.

  8. 08

    black babies

    Third-world charities, the missions.

Last updated August 10, 2026