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Glite Dictionary
to pile Pelion on Ossa

to pile Pelion on Ossa

9.9
To make a hard situation much worse by adding more problems
  • idiom
  • Archaic
translation icon : hacer lo imposible
  • The committee's suggestions only piled Pelion on Ossa, making the project even harder.

Examples

  • He keeps piling Pelion on Ossa instead of solving the basic issue.

  • He always piles Pelion on Ossa when he tries to fix his mistakes.

  • Adding another complex requirement now would be to pile Pelion on Ossa.

  • Don't pile Pelion on Ossa!

  • He always piles Pelion on Ossa when trying to address the simplest of problems, complicating everything further.

  • When you keep adding requirements without solving the core issue, you're just piling Pelion on Ossa.

  • The manager's decision to add more tasks only piled Pelion on Ossa, frustrating the team's efforts to meet deadlines.

Synonyms

to overreach
vsto pile Pelion on Ossa
8 6.6

To try to do more than you can and fail

emphasizes adding needless burdens to an already difficult situation
to pile on
vsto pile Pelion on Ossa
3 5.2

To add too many extra things or reasons

is about attempting impossible or excessive tasks by needlessly worsening a situation
to boil the ocean
vsto pile Pelion on Ossa
  • Jargon
9.6

To try to do something too big to finish

aims instead at worsening a problem by needlessly adding extra burdens
to overleap
vsto pile Pelion on Ossa
  • Archaic
9.9

To go beyond safe limits and harm your success

focuses on increasing difficulties rather than self-harm from overdoing things

Antonyms

to reduce
∞ 1.6

To make something smaller in amount, size, or number

to simplify
99 2.5

Make something easier to understand or use

Surface Forms

pile Pelion on Ossa infinitive

Morphology

pile + Pelion + on + Ossa

The expression alludes to a specific Greek-mythological image (stacking one mountain on another) and depends on knowing the referents Pelion and Ossa; a B1 learner who only knows 'pile' and 'on' cannot infer the conventional sense 'to attempt something impossible or needlessly add to a difficulty'. The metaphor is culturally bound and not compositionally predictable from the listed constituents, so it is opaque.

Etymology

The phrase pile Pelion on Ossa comes from a Greek myth where giants tried to stack the mountain Pelion on top of the mountain Ossa to reach the gods. This giant, impossible picture is why it means 'to try something impossible' or 'to add more trouble to a big problem'.