left-handed compliment

left-handed compliment in Culture

left-handed compliment definition


A compliment with two meanings, one of which is unflattering to the receiver: “The senator said that her opponent was quite competent for someone so inexperienced; you hear nothing but left-handed compliments in these debates.”

Slang definitions & phrases for left-handed compliment

left-handed compliment

noun phrase

Praise that is subtle dispraise; reluctant and dubious praise: Telling her she has the constitution of a horse is maybe a left-handed compliment (1881+)


Idioms and Phrases with left-handed compliment

left-handed compliment

Also, backhanded compliment. An insult in the guise of an expression of praise. For example, She said she liked my hair, but it turned out to be a left-handed compliment when she asked how long I'd been dyeing it. This expression uses left-handed in the sense of “questionable or doubtful,” a usage dating from about 1600.