right under one's nose
Meaning: Very close, yet unnoticed.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The keys were right under my nose the whole time.”
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: The nose is so close that what lies under it goes unseen. The phrase is common from the 16th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- Korean: 등잔 밑이 어둡다 (Deungjan mit-i eodupda) — literally: It's dark under the lamp
More idioms — Body & Senses
- bend over backwards — To make a great effort to help or please someone.
- beauty is in the eye of the beholder — What one person finds beautiful another may not.
- play into someone's hands — To act in a way that unintentionally helps an opponent.
- Tomber dans les pommes — Suddenly losing consciousness — possibly derived from the older expression 'être dans les…
- Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez — To be getting angry.
- Couper les cheveux en quatre — To over-analyze or split hairs.
More English idioms
- Rome wasn't built in a day — Important things take time.
- better late than never — It is better to do something late than not at all.
- be afraid of one's own shadow — To be very timid and easily frightened.
- lightning never strikes twice — An unusual event, lucky or unlucky, is unlikely to happen again in the same way.
- a blessing in disguise — Something that seems bad at first but turns out well.
- when in Rome, do as the Romans do — Follow local customs when visiting a place.
From our untranslatable words
- Yurodivy — One who plays the fool deliberately as a religious act, and is therefore licensed to spea…
- Khalyava — Something good got for free and without effort — and, strictly, something you were never…
- Beloruchka — Someone who dodges dirty or hard work — a person whose hands stay conspicuously clean.