tempest in a

a tempest in a teacup

A disproportionate reaction of anger, concern, or displeasure over some minor or trivial matter. If you ask me, these protests are nothing but a tempest in a teacup that's been stoked by a media campaign of misinformation. I really think you're making a tempest in a teacup over this. It's just a tiny scratch on the car!
See also: teacup, tempest

a tempest in a teapot

A disproportionate reaction of anger, concern, or displeasure over some minor or trivial matter. If you ask me, these protests are nothing but a tempest in a teapot that's been stoked by a media campaign of misinformation. I really think you're making a tempest in a teapot over this. It's just a tiny scratch on the car!
See also: teapot, tempest
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

tempest in a

teacup/teapot
A great disturbance or uproar over a matter of little or no importance.
See also: tempest
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
See also:
  • a tempest in a teacup
  • a tempest in a teakettle
  • a tempest in a teapot
  • tempest
  • tempest in a teacup
  • tempest in a teapot
  • tempest in a teapot, a
  • a storm in a teacup
  • a storm in a teakettle
  • a storm in a teapot
References in periodicals archive
Buster Keton is one of the best actor-directors in movie history, and has received biographical attention before--but for true depth don't miss Buster Keaton: Tempest In A Flat Hat: it comes from a young writer who spent over a year repeatedly watching over 60 Keaton films and follows Keaton's career from vaudeville to silent film.
Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat
A more valid criticism, perhaps, is that the report is a tempest in a teapot.
Windbags of war: Even after September 11, left-wing McCarthyism persists on American campuses
Responding to user complaints about the cost of Tempest equipment and the sometimes shoddy way they met the NACSIM 5100A specifications, the NSA reduced the number of applications in which Tempest protection was required and established new procedures for certifying that equipment adhered to the standard (see "Tempest in a Teapot?" JED, July 1989, p.
The moment they've been waiting for: reduced Tempest standards have finally been unveiled
While the Tempest industry in general recovers from the twin hurricanes of new certification procedures and a new national policy almost guaranteed to reduce demand (see "Tempest Tension," JED, February 1990, and "Tempest in a Teapot?" JED, July 1989), smaller storms continue to rage in the community's outlying areas.
Tempest fax: standards fiction? Will the 161B Standard make a difference?
As befits the present confusion, Frost & Sullivan views relaxed Tempest in a different light.
Tempest tension; why do relaxed standards make people so nervous?
Another factor is the development of a "relaxed Tempest" standard, in which commercial products may be minimally modified to provide some protection, but not meet full Tempest signal suppression requirements (see "Tempest in a Teapot?" JED, July 1989, p.
Tempest expenditures expected to reach $1 billion by 1994