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Glite Dictionary
to damn with faint praise

to damn with faint praise

2 9.4
Give a weak compliment that sounds positive but actually criticizes someone
  • 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

praise
220 1.0

Words or actions that show admiration for someone

praiseful
1 6.6

Showing approval by saying good things about someone or their work

How Complimentary

to extol
18 7.5
to praise
381 1.0
to damn with faint praise
  • NSFW
2 9.4
to criticize
653 3.3
to disparage
33 7.7

Surface Forms

damn with faint praise infinitive

Morphology

damn + with + faint + praise

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.