what is "tip of the iceberg"?

Answer 1

Sometimes the phrase 'tip of the iceberg' is used when you are finding out something more, or hear a tiny piece of conversation that something more is about to happen then they say,
e.g.
'he goes there three times a week but I trust him, the girl he was seen with was pretty, as far as I am concerned nothing is going on.'
Your would probably think, 'sounds like the tip of an iceberg to me.'
MEANING - there is more to follow - because there is probably more to it that 'meets the eye'
I think it is said because icebergs only show a tip and there is a great big lump underneath.

'meets the eye' is a similar meaning by the way

Answer 2

It's the top of the iceberg that's floating in the water... What you cannot see is what is submerged in the water, which could be 100X the size of the "Tip"

Therefore when someone says "That's only the tip of the iceberg", it means its only a small part of a HUGE issue.

Answer 3

The 'tip of the iceberg' looks safe enough. It's what you can't see that could be a huge problem.
'There's more to it than meets the eye' so to speak.

Answer 4

The obvious, visible bits.
Only one tenth of an iceberg is visible above water. The other 9/10 are submerged - but they're still there.
.

Answer 5

It refers to a phrase after the sinking of the Titanic where only a tip is seen and it means the outer ridge of a problem while the nexus or biggest part of the problem remains hidden.

Answer 6

I think it's the pointy bit sticking oot the water.The rest of the ice lump is underneath the sea, and is usually much bigger than the wee bit ye can see.

Answer 7

the top because most of it is under water

Answer 8

the only piece you can see.