Dictionary

molehill mountaineer en · NOUN

Etymology

From the idiomatic expression make a mountain out of a molehill.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, idiomatic) A person who habitually exaggerates or overemphasizes minor issues.
   • I would say you've become a "molehill mountaineer" – building big mountains from little molehills in order to avoid facing the real issue, your fear of emotional pain. 1974, Renatus Hartogs, Questions Women Ask, page 111:
   • Molehill mountaineers of the press consequently had to make what they could of the record: […] 1939 December 4, “The Presidency: Quiet”, in TIME, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2026:
   • Have you tried doing it yourself? It's not easy. I was hoping to illustrate this article with some self-created buzzwords for leftwingers to use. The first one I came up with was "molehill mountaineer", a pejorative term to describe the sort of perpetually furious rightwing weevil who spends their life calculatedly conflating issues such as the "Ground Zero mosque" into gigantic media crapgasms. 2010 August 30, Charlie Brooker, “Buzzwords for blowhards”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 30 May 2023:
   • This theme may sound like a snore (at least to those readers who'd crave a full piece on molehill mountaineer Andrew Breitbart), […] 2010 July 22, Dick Polman, “Bonds of marriage”, in The Philadelphia Inquirer, archived from the original on 26 Mar 2025:

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