iceberg

American  

[ahys-burg] / ˈaɪs bɜrg /

noun

• icebergs
  plural

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.

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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.

iceberg British  

/ 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

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iceberg Scientific  

/ īs′bûrg′ /

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.

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iceberg Cultural  

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

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Discover More

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.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• icebergs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of iceberg

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

Explanation

An iceberg is a huge chunk of ice that breaks off of a glacier and floats around the ocean. Most of an iceberg is under water and can't be seen; that's how a sneaky iceberg managed to sink the Titanic. Icebergs exist in the coldest waters on the planet — the largest icebergs ever observed have been in Antarctica. An iceberg is blamed in the famous sinking of the Titanic in 1912, and the disaster inspired a new system for tracking and measuring icebergs. Another kind of iceberg is the lettuce, which is crisp and nearly as pale as an actual iceberg. The colloquial "tip of the iceberg" means the smallest hint of a much larger problem.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

iceberg icebergs

Chief Executive Bruce Taylor said the company won’t sell iceberg lettuce in the U.S. or Canada that was harvested or processed in the region between May 1 and Aug. 31, starting next year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

"This name is the tip of the iceberg," Yeni leader Ozgur Ozel told a party meeting on Wednesday, describing the scandal as "the robbery of the century".

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

"What we're looking at in Thornton-Cleveleys at the moment might be seen as something of an outlier. My worry is that it's the tip of the iceberg, it's just the beginning," she added.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

This is merely the tip of the “NAZA” iceberg, and at times, it feels alarmingly and disappointingly difficult to compartmentalize it all at once.

From Salon ● Sep. 21, 2026

The mothers asked each other where they could get carrots and broccoli, iceberg lettuce, apples, peaches, or pears.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Von der Leyen's tour included a boat trip among icebergs, meetings with top Greenlandic and Danish officials and the signing a joint statement between Greenland and the European Union.

From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026

Some thicker icebergs that break from tidewater glaciers without floating ice shelf extensions can scrape along the seabed or become grounded inside a fjord.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026

Most of these events are likely glacial earthquakes due to capsizing icebergs.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

I instead recall coasting past a flotilla of icebergs in Alaska’s Glacier Bay.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

Without data, you're the Titanic, crossing an Atlantic chock-full of icebergs without radar.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

Related Words

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