- Meaning
- This idiom describes something extremely difficult or nearly impossible to find due to its rarity or the overwhelming context in which it’s hidden. It evokes the challenge of locating a tiny needle in a large pile of hay, often used to express frustration or the futility of a search, whether literal or metaphorical.
- Origin
- The phrase likely originated in 16th-century England, rooted in rural life where haystacks were common and needles were precious. An early version appears in Thomas More’s 1532 *Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer*: ‘To seek out one line in all Tyndale’s books were to seek a needle in a meadow.’ By the 17th century, ‘haystack’ replaced ‘meadow,’ as seen in John Ray’s 1678 *English Proverbs*. Its use grew in the 19th century, with Charles Dickens and Mark Twain employing it to describe elusive goals or objects.
- Variants
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- Needle in a haystack
- Like finding a needle in a haystack
- Examples
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- Finding a reliable contractor in this city is like a needle in a haystack.
- Searching for that one document in the archive was a needle in a haystack.
- A needle in a haystack—that’s what it felt like trying to find her lost earring in the park.
- Identifying the faulty circuit in this machine is a needle in a haystack without proper tools.
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