curate's egg

American  

noun

British.

1. something discreetly declared to be partly good but in fact thoroughly bad.

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curate's egg British  

noun

1. something that has both good and bad parts

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Etymology

Origin of curate's egg

After a cartoon by G. du Maurier in the English humor weekly Punch (Nov. 9, 1895): a meek curate, when served a bad egg at the bishop's table, replies that “parts of it are excellent”

Example Sentences

It is much better than that, but remains something of a curate's egg.

From Nature • Dec. 13, 2016

A curate's egg then; oddly incidental, often frustrating, but occasionally enjoyable.

From The Guardian • May 25, 2013

The third egg is 's curate's egg of a film, good and bad in parts, but mainly a misconceived venture.

From The Guardian • May 18, 2013

And the other three, like the curate’s egg, were good in parts.

From Slate • Sep. 27, 2012

Parts of it, like the curate’s egg, are quite excellent, but unless you have an acquaintance with the various regions of the Coast to which your various informants refer, you cannot know which is which.

From West African studies by Kingsley, Mary Henrietta