Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A hopeful or comforting prospect in the midst of difficulty.
Wiktionary
- n. figuratively A good aspect of a mostly bad event.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a consoling aspect of a difficult situation
Etymologies
- Originating in the John Milton's poem “Comus”; see 1634 quotation. The proverb every cloud has a silver lining is an allusion to the relevant passage. (Wiktionary)
- From the proverb "Every cloud has a silver lining”. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“He can find a silver lining inside the ugliest sow’s ear.”
“So, if there is a silver lining to the high-oil-price cloud, it is that most energy-conserving or energy-substituting strategies—such as driving smaller and more fuel-efficient cars, driving less, using alternative transportation and mass transit, densifying neighborhoods, and building more energy-efficient houses—also improve the global environment.”
“The head of the lard department has died suddenly, and Pierrepont has suggested to the old man that there is a silver lining to that cloud of sorrow.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘silver lining’.
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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EU Buzz - collocations
Multiword expressions frequently used in EU context. Many of them have a specific EU-meaning, some of them are topical in 2012 also outside the EU but have a relevance in EU politics. People workin...
absorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 1567 more...
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I Am A Starfish. I Speak With Paint.
List title totally stolen from she. Right, the stock entry for this list should be a two-word phrase where one of the words denotes a colour; even better if the expression has some metaphoric value...
black dog, tangerine dream, orange roughy, blue moon, blackguard, white house, purple rain, grey nurse, green thumb, yellow fever, sacre bleu, palo verde and 159 more...
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EU Buzz - adj+noun collocations
active involvement, administrative bu..., administrative ca..., adverse effects, advisory services, ageing population, ageing society, agri-environmenta..., Arab spring, Atlantic partnership, audiovisual policy, backward region and 372 more...
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EN-HU - fun and challenge to translate
Highly descriptive coinages (either in EN or HU) which are difficult to translate between the two languages. If - as a simultaneous interpreter - you get them right on the move, you deserve to be p...
backpfeifengesicht, a wise head on yo..., bad hair day, big cheese, blame shift, cherry picking, intellectual heav..., lack nunchi, schlimazl, cash cow, cherry boy, ass munch and 65 more...
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EU Buzz - colour collocations
Once a European politician starts to speak, I am immediately filled with hope. Why? "After us the deluge." And after the deluge - a RAINBOW.
red tape, blue card, green paper, white paper, orange revolution, brown-nosing, amber box, turquoise week, violet revolution, silver bullet, gold-plating, golden handshake and 7 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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My Little Ponies 3
A list of My Little Pony names from the G3 collection. 2003-present
wysteria, rainbow dash, sweetberry, sunny daze, kimono, minty, pinkie pie, sparkleworks, star swirl, autumn skye, butterscotch, moondancer and 361 more...
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A Dalliance of Dahlias
For more flower fun, see these lists:
Rose words by mollusque
Rose varieties by mollusque
Tulip Names I
Tulip Names II: You Know My Name
A Myriad of Iriia la mode, ace o' hearts, acclimation, adhesion, admirable, adorable you, advance, affirmed, after glow, agricola, alabama melody, alabaster queen and 1152 more...
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chromatic phrases
blue movie, brown study, purple prose, rosy scenario, golden mean, eminence grise, white nights, bronze age, silver bullet, orange juice, black death, technicolor yawn and 188 more...
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Colour my Wordie!
Words and short phrases with colour names in them
blackguard, black box, black market, blue moon, blue-collar worker, true-blue, blue-blooded, pink slip, tickled pink, pink elephant, white elephant, white gold and 81 more...
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set the mood
breeze, moonblink, daybreak, skyline, cloud, silver lining, sunsetting, fog, windfall, early, mist, morning and 7 more...
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Shades of eyeshadow
sea glass, irish mist, silver lining, cinnamon spice, creme de cocoa, turquoise jewel, sapphire ice, meringue blush, aubergine queen, moonlit lilac, violet mist, artic glow and 36 more...
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My Favorite Words
List of my favorite words.
psychedelic, paroxysm, brazen, pragmatic, albeit, asinine, lucubratory, ominous, verisimilitude, vicissitude, timocracy, plutocracy and 13 more...
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Fun Phrases & Idioms3
splitting hairs, down the hatch, have a cow, hit rock bottom, high on the hog, hold your horses, shit hits the fan, going nowhere fast, fat chance, twist of fate, odds-on favorite, horse feathers and 72 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for silver lining.
gulyasrobi HU: a jo a rosszban, minden rosszban van valami jo Oct 23, 2012
whichbe A phrase that parents use to remind themselves that one day their child will stop asking for them to buy My Little Pony dolls. Aug 8, 2008