elephant trap

Syllables: ele·phant trap/ˈɛlɪf(ə)nt ˌtɹæp/US/ˈɛləfənt ˌtɹæp/

elephant trap noun: a trap which can easily be avoided by a competent person, and thus proves the incompetence of anybody trapped by it.

Image: Emmanuel Frémiet Siren-Com, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

elephant trap (plural elephant traps)

(figuratively) A trap which can easily be avoided by a competent person, and thus proves the incompetence of anybody trapped by it.
- To show he doesn’t do his fair share of work, I’ve set him an elephant trap. If he falls in he’ll look like a clown.
(figuratively) Often in the form Elephant Trap: a faulty attempt by White to win a pawn in a popular variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, which is generally only effective against inexperienced players.

(chess) faulty attempt by White to win a pawn: എലിഫന്റ് ട്രാപ്പ് eliphanṟŭ ṭrāppŭ

plural	elephant traps

From elephant + trap, alluding to the fact that a trap for an elephant needs to be quite large, and so ought to be easily seen.

What does elephant trap mean?: Elephant trap means a trap which can easily be avoided by a competent person, and thus proves the incompetence of anybody trapped by it.
What is elephant trap in Tamil?: Elephant trap in Tamil is யானைப் பொறி (yāṉaip poṟi). See Elephant trap meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is elephant trap?: Elephant trap is a noun.
How do you pronounce elephant trap?: Elephant trap is pronounced /ˈɛlɪf(ə)nt ˌtɹæp/ (UK).
What is the plural of elephant trap?: The plural of elephant trap is elephant traps.

Adapted from Wiktionary: elephant trap (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-elephant trap.wav.

Cite this entry: “elephant trap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/elephant_trap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.