tempest in a teapot

Idioms  

1. Also, tempest in a teacup. A great disturbance or uproar over a matter of little or no importance. For example, All that because a handful of the thousand invited guests didn't show up? What a tempest in a teapot! This expression has appeared in slightly different forms for more than 300 years. Among the variations are storm in a cream bowl, tempest in a glass of water, and storm in a hand-wash basin. The British prefer storm in a teacup. The current American forms were first recorded in 1854. For a synonym, see much ado about nothing.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tempest in a teapot

Amusing and brightly satirical as this turn of events is, it begins to feel more like a tempest in a teapot than the sustainable story engine Hirons was aiming for.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

Is it just another tempest in a teapot?

From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2024

So is all of this a, well, tempest in a teapot?

From New York Times ● Jan. 24, 2024

The whole thing is a tempest in a teapot.

From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2023

The fight waxed furious, no tempest in a teapot ever equalled the storm of that miniature sea. 

From A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and its tributaries And of the Discovery of Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864 by David Livingstone