Englishdamn someone with faint praise
Meaning: To criticize in such a way that one appears to be praising when in fact one is condemning or disapproving.
Example: “Calling the novel "perfectly adequate" was damning it with faint praise.”
Origin: Has a precise literary source: Alexander Pope's "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot," published in 1735, which contains the line "Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer." Pope was sketching a figure he called Atticus — a barely disguised portrait of the essayist Joseph Addison — and describing a particular kind of rival: one too cautious to attack outright, who instead undermines a reputation with tepid, unenthusiastic compliments that do more quiet damage than open criticism ever could. The tactic itself was not new, and comparable observations appear in earlier writers, but Pope's phrasing was sharp enough to survive as a fixed expression long after the literary quarrel that provoked it had been forgotten.
More English idioms
- do or die To make a final, all-out effort, whatever the risk.
- do someone a good turn To do someone a favor without having been asked and without expecting a favor in return.
- dot the i's and cross the t's To be very careful and attentive to detail.
- down and out Poor.
- down in the dumps Depressed.
- down to the wire To the deadline.
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Words that look familiar in another language but mean something else entirely.
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