mountain of paperwork
2
3.5
- noun
- Informal
:
montaña de papeleo
- Administrators often claim that they are buried in a mountain of paperwork.
- a mountain of paperwork on my desk
Examples
-
There's a mountain of paperwork at the house.
-
I don't know about you, but I never seem to get through the mountains of paperwork on my desk.
Academic text (1991) -
These teachers have mountains of paperwork, grades, cumulative folders, reports, grade-level meetings, and dozens of parents to deal with.
Academic text (1993) -
Nina was trying to dig herself out from under a mountain of paperwork generated by a shipwreck project off the coast of Cyprus in waters claimed by the Turks.
Fiction book (2000) -
He had mountains of paperwork to do, and was fighting one of those spring colds that seem to linger interminably, but Father Jeffers from St. Anne's had prevailed upon him at the last minute.
Fiction book (1995) -
After completing the project, I found myself facing a mountain of paperwork that needed to be organized.
-
Every year, the administration generates a mountain of paperwork for new student admissions.
-
He joked that his summer vacation was spent dealing with a mountain of paperwork from his office.
Synonyms
1
4.5
A large amount of boring forms and documents you must fill for official work
A very large amount of paperwork that is hard to manage
How Much
- Informal
2
3.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly inferable from combining 'mountain' (a very large mass, used metaphorically for size/quantity) with 'paperwork' (documents), so learners can compose the sense 'a large amount of paperwork'. The 'mountain of' metaphor for large quantity is common and follows a standard English noun + of-construction, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
Mountain of paperwork paints a picture of a huge pile of forms and papers stacked up like a mountain. Paperwork means the forms and documents, so the phrase means 'a lot of documents' that you must deal with.