molehill

American

[mohl-hil] / ˈmoʊlˌhɪl /

noun

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

idioms

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

molehill British

/ ˈməʊlˌhɪl /

noun

the small mound of earth thrown up by a burrowing mole
to exaggerate an unimportant matter out of all proportion

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

molehill More Idioms

see make a mountain out of a molehill.

Etymology

Origin of molehill

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

Could we be making a mountain out of a molehill?

From Slate ● Jun. 7, 2024

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

A molehill is even said to have caused the death of William of Orange, who was thrown from a horse that tripped over one.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 10, 2019

Pardon me, but I resented being called a molehill almost as much as being called a rat.

From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023