paint a rosy picture

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English

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Verb

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paint a rosy picture (third-person singular simple present paints a rosy picture, present participle painting a rosy picture, simple past and past participle painted a rosy picture)

  1. (idiomatic) To describe a situation or prospective set of events in an upbeat, optimistic manner.
    • 1948 January 12, “Russia: Tombstones & Wolf Traps”, in Time, retrieved 23 August 2020:
      Censored dispatches painted a rosy picture of Soviet plenty, but uncensored reports told a different story [] [with] Soviet bureaucracy malfunctioning as usual.
    • 2007 June 15, David Litterick, “Goldman is hit by sub-prime problems”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 23 August 2020:
      The company did paint a rosy picture of its investment banking division, booking record revenues of $1.7bn and saying its backlog of work stood at record levels.
    • 2009 February 9, Nicholas Kulish, Helene Cooper, “Holbrooke Says Afghan War 'Tougher Than Iraq'”, in New York Times, retrieved 23 August 2020:
      Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of the United States Central Command, did not paint a rosy picture of the situation in Afghanistan. [] He said needs included not only ground forces but also an array of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, military police officers, special operations, cargo and attack helicopters and more.

Translations

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See also

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