La partie émergée de l'iceberg
Meaning: The small visible portion of a much larger problem.
Language: French
Literally: The emerged part of the iceberg
Category: Nature
Origin: Roughly a tenth of an iceberg's mass sits above water. French is more precise than English here, distinguishing la partie émergée from la partie cachée (the hidden part) rather than settling on the tip.
More idioms — Nature
- Faire flèche de tout bois — To use every available means to achieve an end.
- Blanchir sous le harnais — To grow old in a profession.
- Entre le marteau et l'enclume — Caught between two opposing forces with no way out.
- Un pavé dans la mare — A revelation or intervention that disturbs a settled situation.
- Il y a de l'orage dans l'air — Trouble is brewing.
- Rouler sur l'or — To be enormously wealthy.
More French idioms
- De fil en aiguille — One thing leading to another.
- Un fil d'Ariane — A guiding thread through something impossibly complicated.
- En file indienne — In single file, one behind another.
- La fin justifie les moyens — A worthwhile goal excuses whatever it takes to reach it.
- Conter fleurette — To woo someone with sweet talk.
- Des manœuvres florentines — Devious, elaborately indirect political scheming.
From our compliments & insults
- C'est une vraie chèvre — They're hopelessly stubborn and infuriating — a goat that refuses to be moved.
- Casse-pieds — A massive bore or pain in the neck — someone who wears you down with their irritating way…
- Espèce de patate — You dim bulb — a potato being the very picture of inert, unthinking stodginess.
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