something of a

something of a (something)

Having a lot of qualities like or associated with some particular thing or type of person. He fancies himself as something of an expert on modernism in literature, just because he studied Joyce for his master's degree. She's something of a con-artist, isn't she? There's no way this repair should cost this much!
See also: of, something
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

something of a

To some extent, as in Our professor is something of an eccentric. [Early 1700s]
See also: of, something
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • something of a (something)
  • something of a something
  • measure (someone or sth) (up) against (someone or sth else)
  • measure against
  • measure up against
  • measured
  • have (someone's or something's) good points
  • have your good, plus, etc. points
  • have (someone's or something's) plus points
  • come out to be
References in periodicals archive
"Well it's the story of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget by b eball lub o b bu get employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players - a statistical method which has been adopted by administrators in other sports, causing something of a revolution in the science of player recruitment."
PITT-BALL TERROR
It is therefore something of a misrepresentation to say that Washington deprived a "real" ballplayer of his roster spot.
(14.) When considered in the context of run-expectancy matrix, the stolen-base attempt can be fairly characterized as something of a gamble.
(15.) Still, this figure is something of a restatement of the immediately preceding calculation, as from September 2 through the end of the 1974 season the A's played against only teams in the AL West.
Herb Washington's value to the 1974 A's
Both are something of a challenge and both are crucial in this period of charter renewal and external review.
In effect this is no different from I&A retaining and maintaining the machines capable of playing archived film or vinyl records, but it would still represent something of a "first" for digital archiving and preservation.
Building an Internet archive system for the British Broadcasting Corporation