Idiom
Needle in a haystack
A needle in a haystack is something very hard, or nearly impossible, to find because it is hidden among many other things.
How people use it
The most common pattern is "like looking for a needle in a haystack." People use it for lost small items, a single error in a huge file, one person in a crowd or a rare job candidate. The tone is informal to neutral. It stresses that the search is hard because of the sheer amount of other stuff, not because the thing is well hidden on purpose.
Also said: like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Examples
- Finding my earring in the sand was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
- Searching for one bad file among millions is a needle in a haystack.
- Without a name tag, spotting Sam at the stadium was a needle in a haystack.
Where it comes from
The image is of a tiny sewing needle lost in a huge pile of hay. Early English versions in the 1500s spoke of looking for a needle in a meadow or in a "bottle" of hay, an old word for a bundle. The haystack form became the standard one later.
Check yourself
1. What does it mean if a search is like looking for a needle in a haystack?
Answer: It is very hard. The idiom describes something almost impossible to find.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: Finding one typo in a five-hundred-page book was a needle in a haystack.. One tiny error among many pages is very hard to find.
Similar idioms
Word game fan? See every word hiding in NEEDLE.