mixed blessing

a mixed blessing

A situation or circumstance that has both positive and negative results. My new promotion will be a mixed blessing for my family because I'll get a substantial raise, but I'll have to work longer hours too.
See also: blessing, mixed
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

mixed blessing

Something that has both good and bad features, as in Being accepted by the college was a mixed blessing, since she couldn't afford the tuition . [First half of 1900s]
See also: blessing, mixed
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

mixed blessing, a

A fortunate occurrence that has some unhappy elements. The OED’s first citation of this phrase is dated 1933, in Discovery (October issue): “The introduction of European influences may prove a mixed blessing.”
See also: mixed
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • a mixed blessing
  • mixed blessing, a
  • never a rose without a/the prick
  • in a sticky situation
  • mixed up in (something)
  • be in the same boat
  • come full circle
  • come/go full circle
  • full circle, come/go
  • it is what it is
References in periodicals archive
As the pigment that darkens the color of our skin, hair, and eyes, melanin is a mixed blessing. It protects us from the harsh rays of the sun, but it also subjects us to the harsh gaze and words of racists, who blindly and blithely dislike and disrespect all dark-skinned people.
In some respects, the states have viewed their exposure to outside influences as a mixed blessing. While welcoming new trade, aid, and other ties, the leaders of Central Asia have been less receptive to calls to democratize and respect human rights.
Our relationship with America was a mixed blessing, also true today.
An article said physicians may choose to delay adoption of combination vaccines because doctors are reimbursed based on the number of vaccines they administer, and that reducing the number of shots will reduce profits ("Combo Vaccines Are Mixed Blessing," July 2008, p.
I do not doubt the future the article points to, but I think it might be a mixed blessing.
Lilly's top-selling product, the Zyprexa antipsychotic medication, proved to be a mixed blessing. Its sales rose 12% to $1.16 billion--the product's best year-over-year increase in several quarters.
From the customer perspective, metal-casting facilities that can provide a finished part are a mixed blessing. On the one hand, buyers love the idea of single sourcing.
and Europe since the 1970s and are considered by environmental advocates to be a mixed blessing. They get rid of garbage without adding to already stressed landfills and with the added benefit of contributing electricity to the power grid.
In many respects, controlling Congress would have been a mixed blessing, implicating Democrats in every bad federal-government decision and helping insulate Republicans from accountability for their many bad deeds over the last six years.
Finally, came the advent of the Internet, which has been a mixed blessing for treasury.
Cardiff and Usk will finish second and third depending on next week's results, but the rain also proved a mixed blessing, because it spelled relegation for Penarth.
Breakthrough Medical Therapies: Women's Mixed Blessing
Economic globalization has been a mixed blessing for health; however, editor Guest writes, two things are certain--that globalization is destabilizing in terms of its impacts on local environmental conditions, diet, health and demography, and that global processes exert tremendous influence over the distribution of disease and patterns in human health, hitting hardest the populations with the fewest resources.
Mixed blessing will continue her association with Kieren Fallon when she takes in the Sixty Years On Prestige Stakes at Goodwood on Sunday.
The baiting behavior has been a mixed blessing for the park, says Noonan.