Meanings
plural elephants in the room
- idiomaticA problem or difficult issue that is very obvious, but is ignored for the convenience or comfort of those involved.
Near-synonyms: 800-pound gorilla, gorilla in the room, 800-pound gorilla in the room
2 more examples
There is an elephant in the room that nearly every politician and green campaigner is ignoring. It’s called population growth.
2008 January 6, Nicholas Rufford, “Motormouth: The car of the future, at £1,300”, in Sunday Times (UK), archived from the original on 05 Oct 2025While the Swiss bank remained positive on the sector through 2022, the coronavirus situation remained “the elephant in the room,” he added.
2022 January 17, Martin Choi, “Macau’s gaming law reforms positive for casino industry, but outlook clouded by Covid-19 uncertainty, UBS, JPMorgan analysts say”, in South China Morning Post, archived from the original on 22 Feb 2022Synonyms: emperor's new clothes, 800-pound gorilla, gorilla in the room, 800-pound gorilla in the room
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA problem or difficult issue that is very obvious, but is ignored for the convenience or comfort of those involved.
Origin
Likely US origin, or possibly from Ivan Andreyevich Krylov's 1814 fable, The Inquisitive Man, which tells of a man going to a museum and noticing all sorts of things apart from an elephant.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 房間裡的大象 /房间里的大象
- 房間裡的大象 /房间里的大象 (fángjiān lǐ de dàxiàng)problem that is obvious but ignored
Dutch olifant in de kamer
- olifant in de kamerproblem that is obvious but ignored
Esperanto elefanto en la ĉambro
- elefanto en la ĉambroproblem that is obvious but ignored
Finnish vaiettu tosiasia, virtahepo olohuoneessa
- vaiettu tosiasiaproblem that is obvious but ignored
- virtahepo olohuoneessaproblem that is obvious but ignored
French l'éléphant dans la pièce
- l'éléphant dans la pièceproblem that is obvious but ignored
German Elefant im Raum
- Elefant im Raumproblem that is obvious but ignored
Hebrew פיל בחדר
- פיל בחדר (pil ba-ẖéder)problem that is obvious but ignored
Hindi कमरे में हाथी
- कमरे में हाथी (kamre mẽ hāthī)problem that is obvious but ignored
Hungarian elefánt a szobában
- elefánt a szobábanproblem that is obvious but ignored
Indonesian gajah dalam ruangan
- gajah dalam ruanganproblem that is obvious but ignored
Italian elefante nella stanza
- elefante nella stanzaproblem that is obvious but ignored
Japanese 部屋の象
- 部屋の象 (Heya no zō)problem that is obvious but ignored
Korean 방안의 코끼리
- 방안의 코끼리 (bang'anui kokkiri)problem that is obvious but ignored
Polish słoń w salonie
- słoń w salonieproblem that is obvious but ignored
Portuguese elefante na sala
- elefante na salaproblem that is obvious but ignored
Romanian elefantul din cameră
- elefantul din camerăproblem that is obvious but ignored
Russian слона-то я и не приметил, скользкая тема
- слона-то я и не приметил (slona-to ja i ne primetil)problem that is obvious but ignored
- скользкая тема (skolʹzkaja tema)problem that is obvious but ignored
Spanish elefante en la habitación
- elefante en la habitaciónproblem that is obvious but ignored
Swedish elefanten i rummet
- elefanten i rummetproblem that is obvious but ignored
Thai ช้างในห้อง
- ช้างในห้อง (cháang-nai-hɔ̂ng)problem that is obvious but ignored
Turkish odadaki fil
- odadaki filproblem that is obvious but ignored
Cite this entry
elephant in the room. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elephant%20in%20the%20room
“elephant in the room.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elephant%20in%20the%20room. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “elephant in the room,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elephant%20in%20the%20room.
Source: elephant in the room on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.