make a mountain out of a molehill
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Foolishly or pointlessly exaggerate the importance of something trivial.
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Phóng đại tầm quan trọng của điều gì đó tầm thường một cách vô ích
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
They were too embarrassed or didn't want to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Trust a woman to make a mountain out of a molehill!
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “make a mountain out of a molehill” mean?
Foolishly or pointlessly exaggerate the importance of something trivial.
Is “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.