"tip of the ice cube" meaning in English

See tip of the ice cube in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: By analogy with tip of the iceberg, since an ice cube is a comparatively small object. Head templates: {{en-noun|?|head=tip of the ice cube}} tip of the ice cube
  1. (humorous) The first aspect of an insignificant or exaggerated problem or situation. Tags: humorous
    Sense id: en-tip_of_the_ice_cube-en-noun-NsY56AXK Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
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  "etymology_text": "By analogy with tip of the iceberg, since an ice cube is a comparatively small object.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "?",
        "head": "tip of the ice cube"
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      "expansion": "tip of the ice cube",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2022, David Scott Diffrient, Comic Drunks, Crazy Cults, and Lovable Monsters, page 93:",
          "text": "In fact, this is “just the tip of the ice cube,” for he also has to worry about the charges that have accrued at the camp's other watering hole, Rosie's bar.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021, Iain McCaig, Shadowline, page 67:",
          "text": "“Come on,” he said, “This is only the tip of the ice cube. Let me show you some of the stuff that never made it to the big screen.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The first aspect of an insignificant or exaggerated problem or situation."
      ],
      "id": "en-tip_of_the_ice_cube-en-noun-NsY56AXK",
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
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        [
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        [
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          "insignificant"
        ],
        [
          "exaggerated",
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        ],
        [
          "problem",
          "problem"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(humorous) The first aspect of an insignificant or exaggerated problem or situation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "tip of the ice cube"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "By analogy with tip of the iceberg, since an ice cube is a comparatively small object.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
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        "head": "tip of the ice cube"
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  "lang_code": "en",
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  "senses": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2022, David Scott Diffrient, Comic Drunks, Crazy Cults, and Lovable Monsters, page 93:",
          "text": "In fact, this is “just the tip of the ice cube,” for he also has to worry about the charges that have accrued at the camp's other watering hole, Rosie's bar.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021, Iain McCaig, Shadowline, page 67:",
          "text": "“Come on,” he said, “This is only the tip of the ice cube. Let me show you some of the stuff that never made it to the big screen.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The first aspect of an insignificant or exaggerated problem or situation."
      ],
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          "humorous",
          "humorous"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(humorous) The first aspect of an insignificant or exaggerated problem or situation."
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      "tags": [
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  "word": "tip of the ice cube"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-18 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-02 using wiktextract (f2d86ce and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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