damn with faint praise

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[edit] English

[edit] Verb

to damn with faint praise

  1. (idiomatic) To provide praise that is so minimal or inconsequential as to actually amount to criticism.
    • 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, p. 296:
      The patronizing manner in which the hero of Nashville is damned with faint praise would amuse were it not so exasperating.

[edit] See also

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