tip of the iceberg Definition

iceberg
noun

1. A huge mass of ice broken off from a glacier or polar ice sheet and floating in the sea, with only a small part of it projecting above the surface of the sea. Sometimes shortened to berg.
2. An iceberg lettuce.
(especially US)
3. colloq
A cold and unemotional person.

Derivative: tip of the iceberg

See separate entry.

Etymology: 19c; 18c in the obsolete sense ‘an Arctic glacier': from Scandinavian or Dutch (see berg¹).

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tip of the iceberg
noun

1. A small part of something much bigger, most of which is still to be discovered or dealt with.