paint a rosy picture

present singular third person paints a rosy picture · participle present painting a rosy picture · participle past painted a rosy picture · past painted a rosy picture

1. idiomaticTo describe a situation or prospective set of events in an upbeat, optimistic manner.

   The company did paint a rosy picture of its investment banking division, booking record revenues of $1.7bn and saying its backlog of work stood at record levels.

   2007 June 15, David Litterick, “Goldman is hit by sub-prime problems”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 23 Aug 2020

   2 more examples

   Censored dispatches painted a rosy picture of Soviet plenty, but uncensored reports told a different story […] [with] Soviet bureaucracy malfunctioning as usual.

   1948 January 12, “Russia: Tombstones & Wolf Traps”, in Time, retrieved 23 Aug 2020

   Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of the United States Central Command, did not paint a rosy picture of the situation in Afghanistan. […] He said needs included not only ground forces but also an array of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, military police officers, special operations, cargo and attack helicopters and more.

   2009 February 9, Nicholas Kulish, Helene Cooper, “Holbrooke Says Afghan War 'Tougher Than Iraq'”, in New York Times, retrieved 23 Aug 2020