What Does “bitter pill to swallow” mean?
Definition:
If you describe something as a bitter pill to swallow, it is something unpleasant that must be accepted or endured.
Origin
Since the 1500s, various forms of this idiom have been used. The first use of the phrase did not include any adjective to describe the “pill” as in Essay of Dramatic Poesy by the English poet John Dryden:
“But we cannot read a verse of Cleveland’s without making a face at it, as if every word were a pill to swallow: he gives us many times a hard nut to break our teeth, without a kernel for our pains. So that there is this difference betwixt his Satires and doctor Donne’s”
Later, adjectives such as bitter, hard, and tough were added to the phrase as in “losing all his money was a bitter pill to swallow.”
The idiom could be derived from the notion that bitter medications can be beneficial to one’s health. However, although the phrase refers to bitter-tasting treatments that must be endured, it makes no mention of any positive side effects as medications do. It only refers to a fact that cannot be avoided and that one is not ready to face.
Synonyms
– pain in the neck
– nightmare
– ordeal
– trouble
– worst-case scenario
Other variations of the idiom include:
– swallow a bitter pill;
– hard pill to swallow;
– tough pill to swallow.
Example(s)
After the disappointment and defeat, declaring bankruptcy was a bitter pill to swallow for him.
Losing her husband was a hard pill to swallow.
