pile Pelion on Ossa
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To add a burden to an already difficult situation
Literally: stacking one mountain on another
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company's financial woes were bad enough, but piling Pelion on Ossa, they also lost their major client
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. 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 “pile Pelion on Ossa” mean?
To add a burden to an already difficult situation Literally: stacking one mountain on another
Is “pile Pelion on Ossa” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.