See a blessing and a curse in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for a blessing and a curse meaning in English (3.5kB)
{
"etymology_text": "From the King James translation of Deuteronomy 11:26 (“Behold, I set before you this day, a blessing and a curse.”).",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "!"
},
"expansion": "a blessing and a curse (plural not attested)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English coordinated pairs",
"parents": [
"Coordinated pairs",
"Terms by etymology"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English nouns with unattested plurals",
"parents": [
"Nouns with unattested plurals",
"Nouns",
"Lemmas"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1835, The London Riddler; or, The Art of Teasing Made Easy",
"text": "What is that which is a friend and an enemy, a blessing and a curse, which saves life and takes it away; is long and short, round and square, rough and smooth, straight and crooked, hard and soft, hot and cold, and most wanted when it is in greatest plenty; which accommodates itself to all palates; is sweet and of bad smell, strong and weak; sometimes able to bear great burdens, but at other times will not bear a pin.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1940, Olive G. Gibson, The Isle of a Hundred Harbors, B. Humphries, Incorporated, page 204",
"text": "On the whole the Contrabando was both a blessing and a curse; it was a blessing and a great benefit in that it brought the necessities of life to the people, but a curse in that it was training them in intrigue, because the contrabandistas often resorted to piracy along the sequestered coasts and on the open seas; they would sell their commodities to the people, then turn around and loot the cattle and hogs in the fields.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Something that is both a benefit and a burden, or that may seem initially beneficial but also brings unforeseen negative consequences"
],
"id": "en-a_blessing_and_a_curse-en-noun-4mdluFjV",
"related": [
{
"word": "double-edged sword"
},
{
"word": "a boon and a bane"
}
],
"tags": [
"no-plural"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "塞翁失馬，焉知非福"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "塞翁失马"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "sàiwēng shī mǎ, yānzhī fēi fú",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "焉知非福"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "既是好事，也是壞事"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "既是好事"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "也是坏事"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "sekä siunaus että kirous"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "Segen und Fluch"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "Fluch und Segen"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "miecz obosieczny"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "uma bênção e uma maldição"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Deuteronomy",
"King James Version"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)s"
}
],
"word": "a blessing and a curse"
}
{
"etymology_text": "From the King James translation of Deuteronomy 11:26 (“Behold, I set before you this day, a blessing and a curse.”).",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "!"
},
"expansion": "a blessing and a curse (plural not attested)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "double-edged sword"
},
{
"word": "a boon and a bane"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English coordinated pairs",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English nouns with unattested plurals",
"English terms with quotations",
"Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)s",
"Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)s/6 syllables"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1835, The London Riddler; or, The Art of Teasing Made Easy",
"text": "What is that which is a friend and an enemy, a blessing and a curse, which saves life and takes it away; is long and short, round and square, rough and smooth, straight and crooked, hard and soft, hot and cold, and most wanted when it is in greatest plenty; which accommodates itself to all palates; is sweet and of bad smell, strong and weak; sometimes able to bear great burdens, but at other times will not bear a pin.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1940, Olive G. Gibson, The Isle of a Hundred Harbors, B. Humphries, Incorporated, page 204",
"text": "On the whole the Contrabando was both a blessing and a curse; it was a blessing and a great benefit in that it brought the necessities of life to the people, but a curse in that it was training them in intrigue, because the contrabandistas often resorted to piracy along the sequestered coasts and on the open seas; they would sell their commodities to the people, then turn around and loot the cattle and hogs in the fields.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Something that is both a benefit and a burden, or that may seem initially beneficial but also brings unforeseen negative consequences"
],
"tags": [
"no-plural"
],
"wikipedia": [
"Deuteronomy",
"King James Version"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)s"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "塞翁失馬，焉知非福"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "塞翁失马"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "sàiwēng shī mǎ, yānzhī fēi fú",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "焉知非福"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "既是好事，也是壞事"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "既是好事"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "也是坏事"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "sekä siunaus että kirous"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "Segen und Fluch"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "Fluch und Segen"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "miecz obosieczny"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "both a blessing and a burden",
"word": "uma bênção e uma maldição"
}
],
"word": "a blessing and a curse"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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