pill
noun /pɪl/
/pɪl/
Idioms - [countable] a small flat round piece of medicine that you swallow whole, without biting it
- a vitamin pill
- Take three pills daily after meals.
- (informal) pill-popping (= the act of taking too many pills or using illegal drugs)
- The doctor prescribed her some pills to help her sleep.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- diet
- sleeping
- vitamin
- …
- bottle
- pop
- swallow
- take
- …
- the pill, the Pill[singular] a pill that some women take to prevent them becoming pregnant
- the contraceptive pill
- on the pill to be/go on the pill
- Her doctor put her on the pill at 16.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- birth-control
- contraceptive
- abortion
- …
- be on
- go on
- use
- …
- [countable] (North American English) an annoying person
Word Originnoun late Middle English: ultimately from Latin pilula ‘little ball’, diminutive of pila; compare with Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pille.
Idioms
a bitter pill (for somebody) (to swallow)
- a fact or an event that is unpleasant and difficult to accept
- The election defeat was a bitter pill for the party to swallow.
sugar/sweeten the pill
- to do something that makes an unpleasant situation seem less unpleasant synonym sugar-coat