English Explanatory Dictionary

elephant in the room

English dictionary entry

Meanings

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

Pronunciation

en-au-elephant in the room.ogg

Word forms

elephant in the room elephants in the room

Etymology

Likely US origin, or possibly from Ivan Andreyevich Krylov's 1814 fable, The Inquisitive Man, which tells of a man going to a museum and noticing all sorts of things apart from an elephant.

Synonyms

emperor's new clothes 800-pound gorilla gorilla in the room 800-pound gorilla in the room

Related words

acknowledge the corn paromologia paromology

Derived words

800-pound gorilla in the room gorilla in the room
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