tip of the iceberg

Meaning

Noun

• A small indication of a larger possibility; the first part encountered of a problem that is much bigger than it seems.

Origin

• From the fact that floating icebergs typically have about nine-tenths of their volume below the surface of the water. Early 20th-century uses of the term are believed to have been influenced by the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic on 15 April 1912 after it struck an iceberg.