Dictionary

with a grain of salt en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Calque of Latin cum grānō salis , literally with a grain of salt, figuratively with a bit of common sense (from Pliny’s Pompey’s discovery of an antidote against poison to be taken with a grain of salt).

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, not-comparable) With a little common sense and skepticism.
   • In it, police laid out list of biographical factoids about BTK and urged residents to read it with a grain of salt. Releasing a list of his “claims,” they reasoned, might allow someone, somewhere to make a connection that police couldn't hope to. 2008, John Douglas, Johnny Dodd, Inside the Mind of BTK: The True Story Behind the Thirty-Year Hunt for the Notorious Wichita Serial Killer, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:
   • I take anything I read on the Internet with a grain of salt.

Coordinates

with all the salt in the Dead Sea · face value · pinch of salt

Relateds

with all the salt in the Dead Sea

Translations (39)

es tomar con reservas (with common sense and skepticism) · ru недове́рчиво (with common sense and skepticism) · nb med en klype salt (with common sense and skepticism) · es escépticamente (with common sense and skepticism) · cmn 持懷疑態度 /持怀疑态度 (with common sense and skepticism) · es escuchar con reservas (with common sense and skepticism) · fi varauksin (with common sense and skepticism) · es coger con pinzas (with common sense and skepticism) · nn med ei klype salt (with common sense and skepticism) · pt cum grano salis (with common sense and skepticism) · fi varauksellisesti (with common sense and skepticism) · la cum grano salis (with common sense and skepticism) · es con un grano de sal (with common sense and skepticism) · uk з сумнівом одна баба казала (with common sense and skepticism) · cs rezerva (with common sense and skepticism) · da med et gran salt (with common sense and skepticism) · ca escepticisme (with common sense and skepticism) · he בערבון מוגבל (with common sense and skepticism) · ru скепти́чески (with common sense and skepticism) · hu fenntartással (with common sense and skepticism) · he בהסתייגות מסוימת (with common sense and skepticism) · it col sale in zucca (with common sense and skepticism) · fi varovasti (with common sense and skepticism) · pl z przymrużeniem oka (with common sense and skepticism) · ca reserves (with common sense and skepticism) · nl met een korreltje zout (with common sense and skepticism) · fr avec des pincettes (with common sense and skepticism) · it con un po' di sale in zucca (with common sense and skepticism) · es tomar con pinzas (with common sense and skepticism) · es creer la mitad (with common sense and skepticism) · ja 話半分 (with common sense and skepticism) · ca cautela (with common sense and skepticism) · de mit einem Körnchen Salz (with common sense and skepticism) · is með saltkorni (taka e-u með saltkorni) (with common sense and skepticism) · he עם קמצוץ מלח (with common sense and skepticism) · fi varauksella (with common sense and skepticism) · es ser escéptico con (with common sense and skepticism) · es con escepticismo (with common sense and skepticism) · sv med en nypa salt (with common sense and skepticism)