<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Look up make a mountain out of a molehill in Wiktionary, the free dictionary . </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Look up make a mountain out of a molehill in Wiktionary, the free dictionary . </Td> </Tr> <P> Making a mountain out of a molehill is an idiom referring to over-reactive, histrionic behaviour where a person makes too much of a minor issue . It seems to have come into existence in the 16th century . </P> <P> The idiom is a metaphor for the common behaviour of responding disproportionately to something - usually an adverse circumstance . One who "makes a mountain out of a molehill" is said to be greatly exaggerating the severity of the situation . In cognitive psychology, this form of distortion is called magnification or overreacting . The phrase itself is so common that a study by psychologists found that with respect to familiarity and image value, it ranks high among the 203 common sayings they tested . </P>

Word for making a mountain out of a molehill