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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

sugarcoat the pill en · VERB

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To make an unpleasant event less displeasing.
    • Philosophy supposes that the argument is merely flavored with such imported images to sugarcoat the pill of difficult thinking for those unused to the bitter remedy of rigorous thought. 2008, Robert Solomon, David Sherman, editors, The Blackwell Guide to Continental Philosophy, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 326:
    • Near-synonyms: polish a turd, put lipstick on a pig, sweeten the pot
    • One middle-aged woman does not sugar-coat the pill, rating the experience “one out of 10” because “shops keep shutting”. 2018 October 20, Zoe Wood, “Shopping malls' desperate decline comes to prime minister’s doorstep”, in The Guardian:
    • To sugarcoat the pill of payment the receiver of the tax was wont to refer to it disparagingly in the diminutive, calling it “la huchette,” “the little tax on a fish stall.” 1930, Watson White, The Paris that is Paris, page 186:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
sugarcoated the pill Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
sugarcoated the pill Tense=Past lexicographic
sugarcoat a bitter pill alternative lexicographic
sugarcoating the pill Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
sugarcoats the pill Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Relateds

pill to swallow · tough pill to swallow · difficult pill to swallow · hard pill to swallow · bitter pill to swallow · swallow a bitter pill · hard to swallow

Synonyms

sweeten the pill · gild the pill · polish a turd · put lipstick on a pig · sweeten the pot