cold comfort

noun

1. slight or negligible comfort; scarce consolation.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cold comfort¹

First recorded in 1565–75

Idioms and Phrases

Slight or no consolation. For example, He can't lend us his canoe but will tell us where to rent one—that's cold comfort. The adjective cold was being applied to comfort in this sense by the early 1300s, and Shakespeare used the idiom numerous times.