Idiom
damn with faint praise
Meaning
To provide praise that is minimal or inconsequential, implying that such praise is the best that could be said.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He damned the project with faint praise by calling it interesting.”
“The critic damned the new film with faint praise, noting only that the costumes were colorful.”
“By describing the candidate's speech as merely adequate, the senator effectively damned him with faint praise in front of the entire assembly.”
Examples
simple
“He damned the project with faint praise by calling it interesting.”
contextual
“The critic damned the new film with faint praise, noting only that the costumes were colorful.”
complex
“By describing the candidate's speech as merely adequate, the senator effectively damned him with faint praise in front of the entire assembly.”
Origin
From a poem by Alexander Pope.
Key words
Related idioms
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