mixed picture
2
6.3
- noun
:
imagen mixta
- The report of the company's performance reveals a mixed picture of both growth and setbacks.
Examples
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It is precisely because of this mixed picture that most Venezuelan health indicators do not show significant improvements—and some show worrying deteriorations.
Academic text (2008) -
Israel provides an excellent empirical context for examining the prevalence of employee substance-related workplace problems, in that the available national data present a very mixed picture as to the possible magnitude of the problem.
Academic text (2006) -
We find a fairly mixed picture for life scientists at the beginning of the 21st century.
Academic text (2005) -
In the presidential race, battleground polls show a mixed picture.
Blog text (22) -
A mixed picture is necessary to close the gap between the official view of relations, on the one hand, and the real state of relations, on the other.
Academic text (2003) -
As to the rank orders of the IBM and present military study, a rather mixed picture emerges.
Academic text (1997) -
Such a mixed conclusion would appear to mirror the existing literature, which continues to present a mixed picture about gender differences in speech sound acquisition in general.
Academic text (2015) -
The mixed picture for reliability findings among the current tests may also arise from the fact that test developers did not all approach reliability measurement in the same way.
Academic text (2015) -
Yet a broader perspective reveals a mixed picture, one in which protest succeeded only insofar as it took root in New Mexico's antidemocratic political culture.
Academic text (2001) -
Analyses of RNA sequences from the SIV genome create a mixed picture of the relationships among the SIVs the primates harbor and the phylogenetic relationships among the primate species.
Academic text (2004)
Synonyms
713
4.8
The general situation or facts about something
How Positive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'mixed' (consisting of different or contradictory elements) modifies 'picture' (the overall situation), so a 'mixed picture' naturally denotes an overall situation with both positive and negative aspects. This adjective+noun pattern is a standard, cross-linguistically common construction, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would typically infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Mixed picture may come from the simple image of a picture with mixed colours or scenes, where some areas are bright and some are dark. So, like that picture, a situation can have 'both good and bad' parts and give an 'unclear' overall impression.