pill

¹ American  

[pil] / pɪl /

noun

• pills
  plural

1. a small globular or rounded mass of medicinal substance, usually covered with a hard coating, that is to be swallowed whole.

2. something unpleasant that has to be accepted or endured.

   Ingratitude is a bitter pill.

3. Slang. a tiresomely disagreeable person.

4. Sports Slang. a ball, especially a baseball or golf ball.

5. the pill. birth-control pill.

6. British Slang. pills, billiards.

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verb (used with object)

1. to dose with pills.

2. to form or make into pills.

3. Slang. to blackball.

verb (used without object)

1. to form into small, pill-like balls, as the fuzz on a wool sweater.

idioms

1. Take a chill pill! chill pill.

pill ² American  

[pil] / pɪl /

verb (used with or without object)

1. British Dialect. to peel.

2. Obsolete. to become or cause to become bald.

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pill ³ American  

[pil] / pɪl /

verb (used with object)

Archaic.

1. to rob, plunder, or pillage.

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pill ¹ British  

/ pɪl /

noun

1. a small spherical or ovoid mass of a medicinal substance, intended to be swallowed whole

2. informal (sometimes capital) an oral contraceptive

3. something unpleasant that must be endured (esp in the phrase bitter pill to swallow )

4. slang a ball or disc

5. a small ball of matted fibres that forms on the surface of a fabric through rubbing

6. slang an unpleasant or boring person

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verb

1. (tr) to give pills to

2. (tr) to make pills of

3. (intr)

   1. to form into small balls

   2. (of a fabric) to form small balls of fibre on its surface through rubbing

4. slang (tr) to blackball

pill ² British  

/ pɪl /

verb

1. archaic to peel or skin (something)

2. archaic to pillage or plunder (a place)

3. obsolete to make or become bald

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pill More Idioms  

1. see bitter pill to swallow; sugar the pill.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pills
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pill¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English pille, from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch pille, Old French pile, from Latin pilula “little ball, globule, pellet,” diminutive of pila “ball”; see -ule

Origin of pill²

First recorded before 1100; Middle English pilen “to rob, steal, plunder,” Old English pilian “to skin, peel,” from Latin pilāre “to pluck, remove (hair or feathers)” see pile ³

Origin of pill³

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English pile(n), pille(n), pilie(n), probably conflation of pill ² with Middle French piller, peler ( see pillage)

Explanation

A small, round dose of medicine is a pill. If you get sick, you might take a pill, which is a pain because it usually tastes bad. A person who’s a pain can also be called a pill. In addition to medicine, you can take vitamins or other supplements in the form of a pill. Most pills have to be swallowed whole with water, but some can be chewed. Because of the association of pill with yucky medicine, there's also the colloquial meaning of "unpleasant person," like a little brother who's a total pill. And from the same association comes "a bitter pill to swallow," for "a difficult or painful necessity."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pill pills

“It’s very, very common for somebody to be like, ‘Can you make a giant six-foot-tall pill bottle by tomorrow?’” she adds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

When asked if she would take a magic pill that removed her Tourette's, Cole responds with a firm "no".

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

In 1987, Merck’s life-changing pill for river blindness had no market.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

We also can say it of cystic fibrosis, a once-fatal illness that a pill called Trikafta has made manageable for most patients.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

“Some nonsense about a bachelor party. I just want to take a sleeping pill and go to bed.”

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

Patients who took vitamin C pills lived no longer than those who didn’t.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

The pills, which are less effective than injections, are commonly used by people who want to lose less weight or are trying to maintain their weight loss after using the injectable drugs.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

Aysen Slack, 65 and from Eastbourne, chose to pay privately for the pills once she heard about them.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

After falling behind Eli Lilly in sales for injectable GLP-1s, Novo Nordisk has recently pulled ahead in the market for obesity pills.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

It was a cure that was so common that children would stand in line several times and instead of swallowing the pills would take them home to use as bingo markers.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Related Words

• dose
• medicine
• tablet