Word.ws English Dictionary

better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick phrase: better than nothing; not unsatisfactory but also not a reason for enthusiastic excitement.

Phrase

better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

  1. (humorous) Better than nothing; not unsatisfactory but also not a reason for enthusiastic excitement.
    • Mr. Cuomo described the Dinkins endorsement as politically significant, but it is unclear just how much it matters. . . . "Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick," to borrow one of the former Mayor's favorite maxims.1994 October 7, Todd S. Purdum, “The 1994 Campaign: After Wary Weeks, Dinkins Announces Support for Cuomo”, in New York Times, retrieved 13 Sep 2015

Synonyms of better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

Questions about better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

What does better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick mean?
Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick means better than nothing; not unsatisfactory but also not a reason for enthusiastic excitement.
What part of speech is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick?
Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick is a phrase.

Words near better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick in the dictionary

  1. Better Sleep Month
  2. better than a kick in the teeth
  3. better than a poke in the eye
  4. better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick
  5. better than a poke in the eye with a rusty nail
  6. better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick
  7. better than a poke in the eye with a shitty stick
  8. better than nothing
  9. better than sex
  10. better the devil you know
  11. better the devil you know than the devil you don't

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.wav.

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