MEANING
An obvious problem or difficult issue that people avoid acknowledging or discussing.
Use it for
naming an unspoken shared concern; showing a meeting avoiding an obvious issue; contrasting awareness with public silence; describing a conspicuous obstacle nobody addressesNames a conspicuous problem that participants avoid discussing. Writing functions: Avoided obvious problem.
Words that belong together
- address the elephant in the room
- ignore the elephant in the room
On the page
The failed acquisition was the elephant in the room throughout the celebration.
Someone finally addressed the elephant in the room: the project no longer had funding.
Word forms
- Base
- the elephant in the room
Usage notes
Idiomatic noun phrase, often there is an elephant in the room or address the elephant in the room. Elephant can take an indefinite article in the sentence. Register: informal. Commonness: common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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