damn with faint praise
(Redirected from damning with faint praise)
English
editEtymology
editFrom a poem by Alexander Pope.
Pronunciation
editAudio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
editdamn with faint praise (third-person singular simple present damns with faint praise, present participle damning with faint praise, simple past and past participle damned with faint praise)
- (idiomatic) To provide praise that is minimal or inconsequential, implying that such praise is the best that could be said.
- 1735, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Doctor Arbuthnot:
- Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering teach the rest to sneer.
- 1887, Donn Piatt, Memories of the Men who Saved the Union, page 296:
- The patronizing manner in which the hero of Nashville is damned with faint praise would amuse were it not so exasperating.
- 1917, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “The Alpine Path: The Story Of My Career”, in Everywoman's World:
- Four of them returned it with a cold, printed note of rejection; one of them “damned with faint praise.” They wrote that “Our readers report that they find some merit in your story, but not enough to warrant its acceptance.”
- 2010 November 16, Maureen Dowd, “The Way They Were”, in New York Times, retrieved 6 October 2013:
- And then, finally, when W. could avoid it no longer, he mentioned Vice, damning with faint praise: “Dick Cheney’s advice was consistent and strong.”