a blessing in disguise

A

a blessing in disguise

Meaning

• the misfortune which turns out to have advantages
• good outcome from an evil situation
• an unfortunate event that later leads to an advantageous situation
• apparent trouble that eventually results in a positive outcome
• something terrible at first, but later results in something good
• a misfortune that unexpectedly turns into good fortune

Example Sentences

1. Losing that job turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him as it forced him to plunge into business.
2. The lockdown in 2020 proved to be a blessing in disguise. It gave me lots of time to spend with my family.
3. When Pete fractured his knee, it was a blessing in disguise, for he got some much-needed rest and a break from his hectic work life and refocused on some essential things in his life.
4. Failing in his exams was a blessing in disguise, for he realized that he was not enjoying his course and decided to try out something else.
5. Missing the train was a blessing in disguise, for we would have been on it when it met with an accident, killing many of its passengers.
6. When her boyfriend dumped her, it was a blessing in disguise for Susan, for otherwise, she would never have met the man who is now her husband.
7. Alice’s car breaking down was a blessing in disguise for her; if it hadn’t, she could have been in the middle of that vast multi-car pileup that happened on her way to work.

Origin

The idiom was originally found in James Hervey’s hymn “Since All the Downward Tracts of Time” in 1746, first printed in “Reflections on a Flower-garden. In a Letter to a Lady,” a volume in his best-known work, Meditations, and Contemplations (1746–1747), but written earlier.

“Since all the downward tracts of time
God’s watchful eye surveys,
O who so wise to choose our lot
Or to appoint our ways?
Good when He gives, supremely good,
Nor less when He denies;
Ev’n crosses from His sovereign hand
Are blessings in disguise.
Why should we doubt a Father’s love,
So constant and so kind?
To His unerring, gracious will
Be every wish resigned.”

The University of Leeds Special Collections holds the draft manuscript of “Reflections on a Flower-garden,” and other James Hervey works.

Evil, Fortune, Good, Trouble