From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcold/small comfortcold/small comfortCOMFORT/MAKE somebody FEEL BETTERa small piece of good news that does not make you feel better about a bad situationcold/small comfort for/to Another drop in the inflation rate was cold comfort yesterday for the 2.74 million jobless. → comfort
Examples from the Corpus
comfort for/to• Brussels brings cold comfort to sheep farmers.• Precedent, however, suggests that his comments will offer only cold comfort to Mr Jiang and Mr Li.• Mellor's self-styled heroics were cold comfort for his team leader, John Major.• Erratic hot winds kept the air thick with dust, and the fan gave small comfort to the feverish, aching children.• The survival of slimmed-down companies is small comfort for people made redundant.• Rosy statistics on aggregate food production offer small comfort to nations that can not afford a seat at the banquet.• But that will provide small comfort to poor people struggling now to keep their heads above water. 