don't make a mountain out of a molehill
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Exaggerate a small problem's importance
Literally: creating a large hill from a small one
Examples
He's always making a mountain out of a molehill with his minor issues
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “don't make a mountain out of a molehill” mean?
Exaggerate a small problem's importance Literally: creating a large hill from a small one
Is “don't make a mountain out of a molehill” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.