left-handed compliment

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left-handed compliment (plural left-handed compliments)

1. (idiomatic) A complimentary remark which is ambiguous or ineptly worded, so that it may be interpreted as having an unflattering or dismissive sense.
   • 1921, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 16, in Nobody's Man:

     "We have sat through the whole of dinner and not once mentioned politics."
     "You made us forget them," Tallente murmured.
     "A left-handed compliment," Jane laughed.

   • 1964 October 30, “The Morning After”, in Time, retrieved 7 October 2013:

     In a somewhat left-handed compliment, UN Secretary-General U Thant described Russia's new bosses as "competent and unpretentious."

   • 2006 March 19, David Orr, “On Poetry: Samuel Menashe—New and Selected Poems”, in New York Times, retrieved 7 October 2013:

     [C]alling someone a "neglected master" makes for one hell of a left-handed compliment.

• backhanded compliment

• damn with faint praise

• “left-handed compliment”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.