Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic)To provide praise that isminimalorinconsequential, implying that such praise is the best that could be said.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, page296:The patronizing manner in which the hero of Nashville isdamned with faint praisewould amuse were it not so exasperating.1917,Lucy Maud Montgomery, “The Alpine Path: The Story Of My Career”, inEverywoman's World:Four of them returned it with a cold, printed note of rejection; one of them “damned with faint praise.” They wrote that “Our readers report that they find some merit in your story, but not enough to warrant its acceptance.”2010November 16,Maureen Dowd, “The Way They Were”, inNew York Times, retrieved6 October 2013:And then, finally, when W. could avoid it no longer, he mentioned Vice,damning with faint praise: “Dick Cheney’s advice was consistent and strong.”
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