left-handed compliment

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See synonyms for left-handed compliment on Thesaurus.com

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.”

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Words nearby left-handed compliment

left gastric vein, left gastro-omental vein, left-hand, left-hand buoy, left-handed, left-handed compliment, left-hander, left heart, left hepatic duct, left holding the bag, leftist

How to use left-handed compliment in a sentence

Not to be left behind, progressives in neighboring Wisconsin clamored to join the cutting edge of public health.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
Gay marriage was the hot-button fight on the left and right.
Jeb Bush’s Unseen Anti-Gay Marriage Emails|Jackie Kucinich|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Clad in a blue, striped button-down, a silver watch adorning his left wrist, Huckabee beams on the cover.
Huckabee 2016: Bend Over and Take It Like a Prisoner!|Olivia Nuzzi|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Meanwhile, almost exactly 30 years after the trial, the judge left his home to board a steamboat and was never heard from again.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST

The clichés about football-obsessed husbands and frustrated wives are pretty heavy-handed.
‘A Gronking to Remember’ Speed Read: 8 Naughtiest Bits|Emily Shire|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
What need to look to right or left when you are swallowing up free mile after mile of dizzying road?
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol|William J. Locke
She is quite true, but not wise, and your left hand must not know what your right hand is doing.
Checkmate|Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The vision—it had been an instantaneous flash after all and nothing more—had left his mind completely for the time.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
She had just left the wharf at Cincinnati for Louisville, with 225 passengers on board, of whom but 124 were saved.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
Thus was the man left entirely to the devil, not even his life being reserved, as in the case of Job.
Solomon and Solomonic Literature|Moncure Daniel Conway

Other 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.

left-handed compliment

Words nearby left-handed compliment

Words related to left-handed compliment

How to use left-handed compliment in a sentence

Other Idioms and Phrases with left-handed compliment