silver lining

noun

1. a sign of hope in an unfortunate or gloomy situation; a bright prospect:

   Every cloud has a silver lining.

silver lining

noun

1. a comforting or hopeful aspect of an otherwise desperate or unhappy situation (esp in the phrase every cloud has a silver lining )

Word History and Origins

Origin of silver lining¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Idioms and Phrases

An element of hope or a redeeming quality in an otherwise bad situation, as in The rally had a disappointing turnout, but the silver lining was that those who came pledged a great deal of money . This metaphoric term is a shortening of Every cloud has a silver lining , in turn derived from John Milton's Comus (1634): “A sable cloud turns forth its silver lining on the night.”

Example Sentences

These are dark times for network TV, but experiments like Galavant are the silver lining.

From The Daily Beast

The Air Force official noted that there is a silver lining that comes with the news that ISIS is become more difficult to target.

From The Daily Beast

One silver lining for Obama may be on the issue of a new congressional authorization for war against ISIS.

From The Daily Beast

But even if they fail at that, beating this quintet would make for a huge silver lining.

From The Daily Beast

The only silver lining was a slight uptick in the number of churches.

From The Daily Beast

Naturally disposed to see the silver lining of every cloud, he was unable to detect it now.

From Project Gutenberg

The silver lining of the Democratic cloud had not greatly disturbed Morton Bassett.

From Project Gutenberg

The silver lining was in softly glowing evidence, but he could not persuade himself that it was for him.

From Project Gutenberg

How true it is, as one of our English poets has remarked, that it is always darkest before the silver lining!

From Project Gutenberg

There was still half an hour to wait for lunch, but that cloud had now its proverbial silver lining.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bright side