with the best will in the world

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Prepositional phrase

[edit]

with the best will in the world

  1. (UK) Even with an optimistic and charitable outlook; used to indicate the intractability of a problem.
    • 2009, Daniel Brumberg, Dina Shehata, Conflict, Identity, and Reform in the Muslim World:
      Through the 1980s and 1990s it did not train Persian speakers, and eventually those with language and country experience aged and retired, leaving a gap that, with the best will in the world, will take at least a decade to fill.
    • 2012, Jonathon Porritt, Capitalism as if the World Matters, page 4:
      With the best will in the world, I find it very difficult to explain how these official sources might have been subverted to falsify information, peddle untruths or generally seek to play games with the general public []

Translations

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]