Word.ws English Dictionary

not as black as one is painted

not as black as one is painted adjective: not as bad as one is said to be.

Adjective

not as black as one is painted (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) not as bad as one is said to be

Questions about not as black as one is painted

What does not as black as one is painted mean?
Not as black as one is painted means not as bad as one is said to be.
What part of speech is not as black as one is painted?
Not as black as one is painted is an adjective.

Words near not as black as one is painted in the dictionary

  1. not a word
  2. not a word of a lie
  3. not again
  4. not all heroes wear capes
  5. not anymore
  6. not as black as one is painted
  7. not as green as one is cabbage-looking
  8. not at all
  9. not at home to
  10. not bad
  11. not be able to hit the broad side of a barn

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: not as black as one is painted (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: En-au-not as black as one is painted.ogg.

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