tip of the iceberg

noun

1. a large floating mass of ice, detached from a glacier and carried out to sea.
2. Informal. an emotionally cold person.
3. Australian Informal. a person who swims or surfs regularly in winter.

Idioms

4. tip of the iceberg, the first hint or revelation of something larger or more complex: The new evidence in the case is just the tip of the iceberg.

noun

1. a large mass of ice floating in the sea, esp a mass that has broken off a polar glacier
2. tip of the iceberg the small visible part of something, esp a problem or difficulty, that is much larger
3. slang, mainly US a person considered to have a cold or reserved manner

n.1774, partial loan-translation of Dutch ijsberg, literally “ice mountain,” from ijs “ice” (see ice (n.)) + berg “mountain” (see barrow (n.2)). An earlier term was sea-hill (1690s). Phrase tip of the iceberg, in a figurative sense, first recorded 1962. Iceberg lettuce attested from 1893.

1. A massive body of floating ice that has broken away from a glacier or ice field. Most of an iceberg lies underwater, but because ice is not as dense as water, about one ninth of it remains above the surface.

Only a hint or suggestion of a much larger or more complex issue or problem: “The money missing from petty cash was only the tip of the iceberg of financial mismanagement.” This phrase alludes to the fact that the bulk of a floating iceberg is concealed beneath the water, leaving only a small portion, its tip, visible above. A large piece of ice that has broken away from a glacier at the shore and floated out to sea. Superficial evidence of a much larger problem, as in Laying off a hundred workers is only the tip of the iceberg. This idiom alludes to the structure of an iceberg, most of whose bulk lies underwater. [Mid-1900s]