iceberg

[ahys-burg]

noun

1. a large floating mass of ice, detached from a glacier and carried out to sea.

2. Informal.,  an emotionally cold person.

3. Australian Informal.,  a person who swims or surfs regularly in winter.

iceberg

/ ˈaɪsbɜːɡ /

noun

1. a large mass of ice floating in the sea, esp a mass that has broken off a polar glacier

2. the small visible part of something, esp a problem or difficulty, that is much larger

3. slang,  a person considered to have a cold or reserved manner

iceberg

1. A massive body of floating ice that has broken away from a glacier or ice field. Most of an iceberg lies underwater, but because ice is not as dense as water, about one ninth of it remains above the surface.

iceberg

1. A large piece of ice that has broken away from a glacier at the shore and floated out to sea.

Most of the ice in an iceberg is underwater, leaving only the “tip of the iceberg” visible — a fact that is often alluded to in discussions of subjects in which the most important aspects are hidden from view.

Word History and Origins

Origin of iceberg¹

1765–75; half Anglicization, half adoption of Dutch ijsberg ice mountain; cognate with German Eisberg, Swedish isberg

Word History and Origins

Origin of iceberg¹

C18: probably part translation of Middle Dutch ijsberg ice mountain; compare Norwegian isberg

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. tip of the iceberg, the first hint or revelation of something larger or more complex.

   The new evidence in the case is just the tip of the iceberg.

Example Sentences

That, one suspects, is just the tip of the iceberg.

Read more on Salon

Swanburne alone was full of them, and that, they suspected, was only the tip of the iceberg.

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After an iceberg crashes into the water, surface waves called calving-induced tsunamis sweep across the fjord and mix the upper water layers.

Read more on Science Daily

My concern is that these two issues, the IRA and life insurance, may only be the tip of the iceberg.

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In eighteen hours, it would hit the Sulzberger Ice Shelf in Antarctica, where it would knock loose an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

• abstract 
• candid 
• detached 
• disinterested 
• sober 
• unbiased 
• unemotional