A.Word.A.Day --silver lining

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silver lining

PRONUNCIATION:

(SIL-vuhr LY-ning)

MEANING:

noun: A positive aspect in an otherwise gloomy situation.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the proverb "Every cloud has a silver lining." Earliest documented use: In John Milton's 1637 Comus in which a lady lost in the woods says, "Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud / Turn forth her silver lining on the night?" Do silver bullets have a silver lining? We'll have to ask the Lone Ranger.

USAGE:

"For critics of the cost, there is a silver lining to Abbott's proposal."
Carmen Michael; Rebate for Nanny Care; The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Mar 27, 2012.

See more usage examples of silver lining in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

How would you describe the difference between modern war and modern industry -- between, say, bombing and strip mining, or between chemical warfare and chemical manufacturing? The difference seems to be only that in war the victimization of humans is directly intentional and in industry it is "accepted" as a "trade-off". -Wendell Berry, farmer, author (b.1934)

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