cold comfort

American  

noun

1. slight or negligible comfort; scarce consolation.

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cold comfort Idioms  

1. 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.

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Etymology

Origin of cold comfort

First recorded in 1565–75

Example Sentences

“Unrelated,” said his lawyers, which was cold comfort for everyone else.

From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026

But that is cold comfort for the nearly 55 percent of individual Vietnamese crypto investors who according to one market analysis reported losses last year.

From Barron's • Feb. 15, 2026

Even an apology from Gates and an agreement by Bill and Hillary Clinton to testify on their ties to Epstein are cold comfort, survivors say.

From Salon • Feb. 10, 2026

“That is cold comfort for a consumer who has been struggling with four years of exorbitant cumulative inflation and is looking for relief,” Moskow said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 3, 2026

That was cold comfort, Serber reflected: “I had found the experience humiliating and frightening, and resented having been put through it.”

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik