cold comfort en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
Popularized by William Shakespeare in The Taming of the Shrew, see quotations.
Meanings
-
(countable, idiomatic, uncountable) Much less reassurance, consolation, aid, or pleasure than one needs or desires.
But statistics are cold comfort when the latest explosion has leveled a nearby building.
2010 April 8, Ben Lando, “U.S. Officials Downplay Rash of Baghdad Attacks”, in Time, archived from the original on 18 Jul 2013:[…] or ſhall I complaine on thee to our miſtris, whoſe hand / (ſhe being now at hand) thou ſhalt ſoone feele, to thy / cold comfort, for being ſlow in thy hot office.
c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 221, column 1:The table was smoking and hissing; and Romeo Clawbonny, who acted as the everyday house-servant, or footman, had several times intimated that it might be well to commence operations, as a cold breakfast was very cold comfort.
1863, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 6, in Miles Wallingford:At least I should not die alone. Human eyes would watch me end. It was cold comfort I presume, but yet I derived some slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it.
1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 9, in At the Earth's Core:When the president announced Ms. Bondi’s departure from his cabinet on Thursday, he offered the customary false praise and cold comfort that accompany such defenestrations.
2026 April 2, Jeffrey Toobin, “The One Thing Trump Wanted That Pam Bondi Failed to Deliver”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| cold comforts | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Translations (8)
sv en klen tröst (much less reassurance, consolation, aid, or pleasure than one needs or desires) · cy cysur bach (much less reassurance, consolation, aid, or pleasure than one needs or desires) · de schwacher Trost (much less reassurance, consolation, aid, or pleasure than one needs or desires) · cmn 不起作用的安慰 (much less reassurance, consolation, aid, or pleasure than one needs or desires) · hu sovány vigasz (much less reassurance, consolation, aid, or pleasure than one needs or desires) · ga brachán ó aréir (much less reassurance, consolation, aid, or pleasure than one needs or desires) · ru сла́бое утеше́ние (much less reassurance, consolation, aid, or pleasure than one needs or desires) · fi laiha lohtu (much less reassurance, consolation, aid, or pleasure than one needs or desires)