cold comfort
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Poor consolation.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
It is actually much easier than appearances would suggest — cold comfort when it looks impossible!
It's cold comfort, of course, when there isn't much of a market to have a share of.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Euphemism (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “cold comfort” mean?
Poor consolation.
Is “cold comfort” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.