molehill

/'moulhil/

Thân thiện

A molehill sits in the middle of a freshly mowed lawn.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A small mound of earth: A molehill is a small pile of earth pushed up to the surface by a mole digging its underground tunnels.

Usage

• The word "molehill" is used to refer literally to the small piles of dirt found in gardens or lawns.
• It is most famously used in the idiom "make a mountain out of a molehill", which means to exaggerate a minor problem, making it seem much more serious than it really is.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The lawn was covered in molehills after the moles had been active.
  • He spent the afternoon flattening the molehills in the flower bed.

Advanced Usage

• "Make a mountain out of a molehill": To treat a minor issue as if it were a major crisis.
  • You're just making a mountain out of a molehill; it was a small mistake, not a disaster.

Variants and Related Words

• Mole (n): The small, burrowing mammal that creates molehills.
  • Moles are rarely seen, but their presence is obvious from the molehills.

Synonyms

• Mound: A small hill or pile of earth.
• Hillock: A small hill.

Related Idioms

• "Make a mountain out of a molehill": As defined above, this is the primary and most common idiom associated with the word.
  • Stop making a mountain out of a molehill; the scratch on the car is barely noticeable.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a mound of earth made by moles while burrowing