make a mountain out of a molehill

Cultural  

1. To blow an issue or event out of proportion: “You have only a small blister on your heel, but you complain as though you broke your leg. Why are you making a mountain out of a molehill?”

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make a mountain out of a molehill Idioms  

1. Exaggerate trifling difficulties, as in If you forgot you racket you can borrow one—don't make a mountain out of a molehill. This expression, alluding to the barely raised tunnels created by moles, was first recorded in John Fox's The Book of Martyrs (1570).

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Example Sentences

“I don’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill, but I also want to be careful to follow what the rules are,” he said.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 5, 2020

To head the Council of Economic Advisers, I nominate my Aunt Ruby, who never once failed to make a mountain out of a molehill.

From Washington Post • Apr. 26, 2018

“I don’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill on this,” he said.

From Washington Post • Dec. 11, 2014

We have just enough men on both sides who look at today and fail to look for tomorrow, and who are anxious to make a mountain out of a molehill.

From Time Magazine Archive

If you choose to make a mountain out of a molehill, you choose to make a mistake which the Executive Committee will not repeat.

From William Lloyd Garrison The Abolitionist by Grimké, Archibald Henry