# elephant in the room

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. A problem or difficult issue that is very obvious, but is ignored for the convenience or comfort of those involved.

## Etymology
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.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/elephant-in-the-room