iceberg
(aɪsbɜːʳg )
Word forms: icebergs
1. countable noun
An iceberg is a large tall mass of ice floating in the sea.
2. the tip of the iceberg phrase
If you say that a problem is the tip of the iceberg, you mean that it is one small part of a much larger problem.
The people who have died so far could be just the tip of the iceberg.
Image of iceberg
© Alones, Shutterstock
Idioms:
just the tip of the iceberg
something that is part of a very large problem or a very serious situation, although other aspects of the problem or situation may not yet be obvious
We get about 2,000 complaints every year but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many more people just suffer in silence.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Collocations:
hit an iceberg strike an iceberg
They had hit an iceberg, and he was going to assess the damage.
SIGNOR MARCONI'S MAGIC BOX: The invention that sparked the radio revolution (2003)
Yet that would all just amount to nice tunes from the Titanic's orchestra if the euro were to hit an iceberg.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
And then I'll hit an iceberg.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Four days later she struck an iceberg and sank.
The Sun
The letter was penned hours before the liner struck an iceberg and sank with the loss of 1,522 lives.
Times, Sunday Times
The story of the ship that struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage already engages our imaginations with powerful images, emotions and questions of mortality.
Times, Sunday Times
She had struck an iceberg and was waterlogged.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The ship struck the iceberg on its starboard and the water began to flood in.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Translations:
Chinese: 冰山
Japanese: 氷山