elephant in the room
EL-uh-funt in the ROOM
ˈɛlɪfənt ɪn ðə ruːmListen
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Dictionary meaning
an obvious and important problem, truth, or uncomfortable fact that everyone is aware of but that no one is willing to acknowledge or discuss, typically because doing so would be awkward, threatening, or in violation of social conventions; the phrase evokes the absurdity of ignoring something as enormous and unmissable as an elephant in a room, turning collective avoidance into a form of shared pretence; naming the elephant in the room is an act of social courage that breaks the unspoken compact of denial and forces a group to confront what it has been collectively evading
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