mixed blessingn.
/ˌmɪks(t) ˈblɛsɪŋ/, U.S. /ˌmɪks(t) ˈblɛsɪŋ/ A situation or thing that has disadvantages as well as advantages.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > [noun] > something not wholly beneficial
mixed blessinga1631
a1631 J. Donne 50 Serm. (1649) xxvi. 223 When all affections should have been subjects, and all creatures servants, and all wives helpers, then life was a sincere blessing. But, but a mixt blessing now, when all these are so much vitiated.
1817 J. Davison Serm. Church St. Nicholas 16 Their being born in the influence of their country, and reared in the spirit of its mixt blessings.
1883 Glasgow Herald 7 June 3 At the same time let it be said that this result must be a mixed blessing, agriculturally, as brother Jonathan will be made a sadder yet wiser man.
1897 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 2 741 Mr. Herbert Spencer has been a much mixed blessing.
1933 Discovery Oct. 309/2 The introduction of European influences may prove a mixed blessing.
1957 Times 2 Sept. 27/2 Canadians last week enjoyed the mixed blessing of having the world's hardest currency.
1960 News Chron. 21 Sept. 6/3 In theory it was a Good Thing... In practice it turned out a mixed blessing.
1986 Amer. Scholar 65 532/2 Eleanor Roosevelt experienced the mixed blessings of notoriety.
1998 P. Jooste Dance with Poor Man's Daughter (1999) i. 20 He doesn't know if he should tell me because it's a mixed blessing but I have what people call ‘the touch’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1631