tip of the iceberg
Pluraltips of icebergs
- 1A small sign of a much bigger problem that is mostly still hidden.
Like seeing one small crack and later finding the whole wall is damaged.
The missing cash was just the tip of the iceberg at that company.
These few broken machines are only the tip of the iceberg for the whole factory.
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Origin
It comes from the way icebergs float: most of the ice, about nine-tenths, is hidden under the water. Early uses may have been influenced by the Titanic sinking in 1912 after hitting an iceberg.