Meaning & use
second hand compliment
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“second hand compliment” is a form of “secondhand compliment”.
Meaning
nouncountable
A compliment that someone repeats to you after hearing it from another person, rather than saying it directly.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a second hand compliment' or 'second hand compliments'.
Patterns
- a second hand compliment about someone
- receive a second hand compliment
- pass on a second hand compliment
She felt pleased when she received a second hand compliment from her colleague.
A second hand compliment can feel less genuine than direct praise.
He told me a second hand compliment he had heard about my presentation.
Word forms
| plural | second hand compliments |
|---|
Common combinations
- receive a second hand compliment
- I received a second hand compliment about my cooking from my neighbor.
- pass on a second hand compliment
- She passed on a second hand compliment from the client.
- a second hand compliment about someone
- He shared a second hand compliment about her teaching skills.
Synonyms and how they differ
- indirect praise
- More formal and general; it can include any indirect positive comment, not just a repeated compliment.
- hearsay compliment
- Rare and slightly negative; it stresses that the compliment comes through others and may not be reliable.
Opposites
Word family
- secondhand adjective
- Meaning heard from someone else rather than directly; also used for used goods.
Commonly confused: second hand compliment or backhanded compliment?
second hand compliment vs backhanded compliment
A remark that seems like praise but actually insults or criticizes; different from a compliment passed on by someone else.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'second hand compliment' correctly.
Choose one answer.
'Second hand compliment' means praise that is passed on from another person, as in option B. Option A describes a direct compliment, and options C and D confuse it with 'second hand' meaning used goods.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “second hand compliment”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.