mixed bag

American  

noun

Informal.

1. an often unexpected assortment of various things, people, or ideas.

   The concert was a mixed bag of works from three centuries.

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mixed bag British  

noun

1. informal something composed of diverse elements, characteristics, people, etc

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mixed bag Idioms  

1. A heterogeneous collection of people, items, activities, or the like; an assortment. For example, The school offers a mixed bag of after-school activities—team sports, band practice, a language class. This idiom calls up the image of a sack full of different items. [First half of 1900s]

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Etymology

Origin of mixed bag

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mixed bag

Yeremy Pino: Can be a mixed bag but offers real threat, as he showed with his splendid free-kick that went down as a Donnarumma own goal.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

Gerard Magliocca, a law professor at Indiana University, said the session could be seen as a mixed bag.

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

Super Micro Computer’s fiscal third-quarter earnings were a mixed bag, but the company delivered the above-consensus earnings and margins that investors were looking for.

From MarketWatch ● May 5, 2026

V&A East Museum, then, is a mixed bag and largely a missed opportunity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026

But with a mixed bag of men, I had to grab leadership quick or be relegated to nowhere.

From The Planet Savers by Marion Zimmer Bradley