Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Damning with faint praise is an English idiom, expressing oxymoronically that half-hearted or insincere praise may act as oblique criticism or condemnation. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] In simpler terms, praise is given, but only given as high as mediocrity, which may be interpreted as passive-aggressive .
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
The examples given are the idioms "by and large", "kingdom come", and "trip the light fantastic". [13] The phrase, and other examples, are considered "opaque because it is impossible to construct a meaningful literal-scene from the formal structure.
Below is an alphabetical list of widely used and repeated proverbial phrases. If known, their origins are noted. A proverbial phrase or expression is a type of conventional saying similar to a proverb and transmitted by oral tradition.
For example, the Arabic phrase في نفس المركب (fi nafs al-markeb) is translated as "in the same boat", and it carries the same figurative meaning as the equivalent idiom in English. Another example would be the Japanese yojijukugo 一石二鳥 (isseki ni chō), which is translated as "one stone, two birds". This is, of course ...
The poem emphasizes that sometimes gold is hidden or mistaken for something else, as opposed to gaudy facades being mistaken for real gold. Strider, secretly the rightful king of Gondor, appears to be a mere Ranger. Both Tolkien's phrase and the original ask the reader to look beneath the skin, rather than judging on outward appearance. [14]
The idiom appears occasionally in the literary canon, both in English and translations from other languages. Swift 's poem "A Conference, Between Sir Harry Pierce's Chariot, And Mrs. D. Stopford's Chair" (c. 1710) has "And since we're so near, like birds of a feather / Let's e'en, as they say, set our horses together", [ 9 ] while Anthony ...
Many examples of synecdoche are idioms, common to the language. Example: ... For example, in the following lines from a poem by A. E. Housman, ...