bitter pill to swallow

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An unpleasant fact, disappointment, or humiliation that is difficult to endure. For example, Failing the bar exam was a bitter pill to swallow, but he plans to try again next year. [Late 1500s]

QUIZ

ARE YOU A TRUE BLUE CHAMPION OF THESE "BLUE" SYNONYMS?

We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Question 1 of 8

Which of the following words describes “sky blue”?

navy

beryl

azure

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Words nearby bitter pill to swallow

bittern, bitterness, bitternut, bitter orange, bitter pill, bitter pill to swallow, bitter principle, bitterroot, Bitterroot Range, Bitterroot River, bitter rot

How to use bitter pill to swallow in a sentence

Weeks retained an unparalleled legal team, which included bitter political rivals Hamilton and Burr.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
What 15 months in a federal correction institution will be like, according to a man who counsels to-be inmates.
How a ‘Real Housewife’ Survives Prison: ‘I Don’t See [Teresa Giudice] Having a Cakewalk Here’|Michael Howard|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
For Randy, a 50-year-old ex-Mormon gay man, this cure was a particularly bitter pill to swallow.
Your Husband Is Definitely Gay: TLC’s Painful Portrait of Mormonism|Samantha Allen|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
That means the F-35 will be almost entirely reliant on long-range air-to-air missiles.
New U.S. Stealth Jet Can’t Fire Its Gun Until 2019|Dave Majumdar|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST

It will still carry a pair of Raytheon AIM-120 AMRAAM long-range air-to-air missiles and a pair of bombs.
New U.S. Stealth Jet Can’t Fire Its Gun Until 2019|Dave Majumdar|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Each day she resolved, "To-morrow I will tell Felipe;" and when to-morrow came, she put it off again.
Ramona|Helen Hunt Jackson
All the operations of her brain related themselves somehow to to-morrow afternoon.
Hilda Lessways|Arnold Bennett
"Buy something for your wife that-is-to-be," he said to his grand-nephew, as he handed him the folded paper.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
Something remote and ancient stirred in her, something that was not of herself To-day, something half primitive, half barbaric.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
To-day I'm more dead than alive, as we had a lesson from him yesterday that lasted four hours.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay