elephant in the room

idiomPart ofroom

elephant in the room — idiom

1. an obvious and serious problem or difficult issue that everyone is aware of but

1.idiom
Definition

an obvious and serious problem or difficult issue that everyone is aware of but nobody wants to talk about directly

Example

Everyone at the meeting knew about the budget cuts, but nobody mentioned the elephant in the room.

The family sat around the dinner table in silence, all thinking about the elephant in the room — their grandfather's illness.