silver lining

noun

: a consoling or hopeful prospect

Examples of silver lining in a Sentence

If there's a silver lining to losing my job, it's that I'll now be able to go to school full-time and finish my degree earlier.

Recent Examples on the Web

For Hawke, the silver lining was having the availability to commit to Sterlin Harjo’s FX crime dramedy, The Lowdown. — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 18 Sep. 2026

Despite the show having gone home empty-handed, Cox found a silver lining. — Kimberlee Speakman, PEOPLE, 16 Sep. 2026

However, there's a silver lining for bond investors, especially with rates expected to be elevated for an extended time. — Cheryl Winokur Munk, CNBC, 15 Sep. 2026

In the literature of divorce, food is often marked by its absence—by the rupture of routine, the disappearance of appetite, and the sudden weight loss that is almost inevitably framed as a morbid silver lining. — Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

from the phrase "every cloud has a silver lining"

First Known Use

1871, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for silver lining

• intertwining
• realigning
• recombining
• redefining
• redesigning
• underlining
• undermining
• aligning
• assigning
• calcining
• combining
• confining

Kids Definition

silver lining

noun

: a consoling or hopeful prospect

looked for the silver lining in a bad situation