Mt. Everest syndrome

A form of Everest syndrome — The tendency of academic researchers to study things merely because they exist to be studied, regardless of the usefulness of the research.

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Meanings

noun
  1. alternativeAlternative form of Everest syndrome.

    He suggests that it is probably due to the Mt. Everest syndrome at work, i.e., the TPS metric was “there.”

    1990, Capacity Management Review, page 6
    2 more examples

    There exists in medicine, as in most pursuits, a certain degree of the Mt. Everest syndrome: When asked why he climbed the mountain, an adventurer replied, "Because it is there." It is useful to pause in our enthusiasm to label and ask ourselves to what end we do it.

    1978, Iatrogenesis: Just What the Doctor Ordered, The Rand Corporation, page 12

    When it is in the anterior chamber, the lens can and should be easily extracted for the reasons just given and not because of Chandler’s “Mt. Everest syndrome” (the urge to meet and conquer a challenge).

    1979, Nicholas G. Douvas, editor, Symposium on Cataracts: Transactions of the New Orleans Academy of Ophthalmology, Mosby, →ISBN, page 170
Cite this entry
APA

Mt. Everest syndrome. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mt.%20Everest%20syndrome

MLA

“Mt. Everest syndrome.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mt.%20Everest%20syndrome. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Mt. Everest syndrome,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mt.%20Everest%20syndrome.

Source: Mt. Everest syndrome on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.