to damn with faint praise
3
9.4
- idiom
- NSFW
:
criticar con elogios tibios
- I am guessing he was damning with faint praise, just saying that is what their religion teaches.
- damn with faint praise
Examples
-
Scientists want a sidekick to run their labs, damning the reluctant sidekick with faint praise when they try to become independent.
Blog text (20) -
Although it may be doing better than most other countries, that is damning it with faint praise.
Blog text (15) -
When the administration bill finally passed, Johnson damned it with faint praise as "a mighty weak start in a good direction."
Academic text (2007) -
Even the administration's defenders have damned it with faint praise.
Academic text (2011) -
If this is taken as anything other than damning with faint praise, then my meaning is misunderstood.
Blog text (15) -
The handful of other reviewers who mentioned the portrait merely damned it with faint praise.
Academic text (2011) -
I'm another Doug from Kansas, and OK does make us look a tad more sensible, damning us with faint praise.
Blog text (17) -
The critic damned with faint praise, saying the play was just "somewhat entertaining."
-
In an interview, she damned with faint praise the artist's work, calling it "unique but not for everyone."
-
He damned with faint praise by stating that the new restaurant was "better than nothing, at least."
Antonyms
How Complimentary
7
7.5
331
1.0
- NSFW
3
9.4
701
3.3
28
7.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'faint' + 'praise' transparently indicate a weak compliment and 'damn' signals condemnation, so a learner could plausibly infer a sense like 'condemn by giving weak praise'. However, the expression relies on an ironic/paradoxical use (praise functioning as criticism) and some pragmatic knowledge of idiomatic contrast, which is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Damn with faint praise comes from a famous writer who showed how a very weak compliment—faint praise—can act like a damn. So it means 'to criticize someone indirectly' by giving only a tiny, half-hearted compliment.