mixed blessing

noun

1. something that, although generally favorable or advantageous, has one or more unfavorable or disadvantageous features.

mixed blessing

noun

1. an event, situation, etc, having both advantages and disadvantages

Word History and Origins

Origin of mixed blessing¹

First recorded in 1930–35

Idioms and Phrases

Something that has both good and bad features, as in Being accepted by the college was a mixed blessing, since she couldn't afford the tuition . [First half of 1900s]

Example Sentences

For the residents of Colonia Nueva Esperanza, in the meantime, the new warehouse is a mixed blessing where only time will tell if it’s actually helping one of Tijuana’s most impoverished areas and the workers inside, or the company’s bottomline.

From Voice of San Diego

He continues to shoulder the mixed blessing of becoming a late-in-life action hero, making it look like no work at all.

From Time

Pop culture may be a crucial tool in effecting change, but for oppressed groups and their respective liberation movements, mainstream representation is often a mixed blessing.

From Time

The 15% Pledge is a mixed blessing, Lizzo covers Vogue, and we get a refresher on allyship.

From Fortune

The identity of the Taliban leader reportedly killed in the drone strike—Wali-ur Rehman—is another mixed blessing.

From The Daily Beast

Not every Palin-powered primary candidate won, and her backing may be a mixed blessing in a general election.

From The Daily Beast

Of course, the support of a governor with a job approval rating south of 30 percent is, at best, a mixed blessing.

From The Daily Beast

It was often a very mixed blessing when you were out sailing with him.

From The Daily Beast

Vanessa began to arrive at the conclusion that a husband who added a roving disposition to a settled income was a mixed blessing.

From Project Gutenberg

I knew that association with you people would prove to be a mixed blessing.

From Project Gutenberg

That he and his brother had originally elected to come into this system along its orbital plane had been a mixed blessing.

From Project Gutenberg

If the furniture factory was a mixed blessing, what of the cannery?

From Project Gutenberg