a needle in a haystack
something that isimpossibleorextremelydifficulttofind,especiallybecause theareayou have tosearchis toolarge:
不可能（或极难）找到的东西；大海里的针Finding thepieceofpaperI need in thishugepileofdocumentsis likelookingfor/tryingtofindaneedlein ahaystack要在这一大堆文件里找到我需要的那一张纸就像是（企图）大海捞针一样。
Searching
- -seeking
- beachcomb
- beachcomber
- beachcombing
- body search
- bounty hunter
- divine
- hunting ground
- keepyour/aneye out forsomeone/somethingidiom
- leave no stone unturnedidiom
- manhunt
- mudlark
- needle
- scout
- scratch
- search
- seeksomeone/somethingout
- seeker
- shakesomeonedown
- troll
Examplesofa needle in a haystack
a needle in a haystack
Without prior knowledge of changes in specific hormone or hormone receptor levels, however, a candidate gene approach resembles an attempt to findaneedleinahaystack.
From theCambridge English Corpus
It was a bigger problem than findinganeedleinahaystack.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
The latter can becomeaneedleinahaystack.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
It is like looking foraneedleinahaystack.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
I know that that can be rather like looking foraneedleinahaystack.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
Trying to use such records to trace stolen goods will be like trying to findaneedleinahaystack.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
Any form of static check unrelated to good intelligence is like looking foraneedleinahaystack.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
Tracking down cyber-crooks is like looking foraneedleinahaystack.
FromEuroparl Parallel Corpus - English
It is like hunting foraneedleinahaystack.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
The police have to look foraneedleinahaystack.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
However, they have been enveloped by so many words that the point of the probe has been lost as effectively asaneedleinahaystack.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
The odds of recovering them in the landfill are said to be greater thananeedleinahaystack.
From
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.It was like findinganeedleinahaystack.
FromThis example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.This is most common with myths involving building an object that can accomplish a goal (for example, rapidly cooling a beer, or findinganeedleinahaystack).
FromThis example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
- misguided
- misguided attempt
- misguidedly
- misguided policy
- mishandle
- mishandled
- mishandling
- mishap
- mishear
- mishit
- mishmash
- misidentification
- misidentify
- misinform
- misinformation
- misinformed
- misinforming
- misinterpret
- misinterpretation
- misinterpreted
- misinterpreting
- misjudge
- misjudged
- misjudging
- misjudgment