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Silver lining

Posted by R. Berg on January 18, 2003

In Reply to: Silver lining posted by James Briggs on January 18, 2003

: : : Hi, could you explain the meaning of "Silver lining", when and how to use this word?

: : It means that a negative situation has produced something that is very positive. The very positive thing or situation is the "silver lining".
: : For instance, many people agree that one of the "silver linings" of World War 2 was the increae in technology that hastened the development and start of the computer era.

: I think this comes from thunder clouds, which are often very dark and threatening but which often may have a silver gleam of sunlight along one edge - the 'silver lining' to the cloud.

"Silver lining" comes from a proverb often heard, "Every cloud has a silver lining," which refers literally to the storm clouds described just above and is extended to the situations described above that.

See the meaning and origin of the proverb "Every cloud has a silver lining".

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