molehill

American  

[mohl-hil] / ˈmoʊlˌhɪl /

noun

1. a small mound or ridge of earth raised up by a mole or moles burrowing under the ground.

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idioms

1. make a mountain out of a molehill, to exaggerate a minor difficulty.

molehill British  

/ ˈməʊlˌhɪl /

noun

1. the small mound of earth thrown up by a burrowing mole

2. to exaggerate an unimportant matter out of all proportion

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molehill More Idioms  

1. see make a mountain out of a molehill.

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Etymology

Origin of molehill

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at mole ¹, hill

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

molehill

"Walking downhill, whenever your foot slides into the very end of your shoe is when it maybe gives me a bit of bother but it's totally fine. A mountain out of a molehill."

From BBC ● May 13, 2026

Shame on people for making a mountain out of a molehill.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2023

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi -- from every mountainside.

From Fox News ● Jan. 17, 2022

In another, two moles stare at a mountain in the distance, and one says, “It started out as a molehill, but then I just kept going.”

From New York Times ● Nov. 11, 2020

And he was busy anagramming anything odd—any odd night, handy dog tin, doing thy DNA—when Colin did his DNA proud: he stumbled on a molehill and fell.

From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green