elephant in the room
Pluralelephants in the room
- 1A big, clear problem that people ignore because talking about it would be hard or uncomfortable.
Nobody at dinner mentioned Dad's drinking, but it was the elephant in the room.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: we can't afford this trip.
Note
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Origin
Probably from the US. It may also come from an 1814 Russian fable about a man in a museum who notices everything except an elephant.