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Synonyms

grain of salt

Cultural  

  1. To “take something with a grain of salt” is to view a statement with a skeptical attitude. “She took the claim that he didn't want to be president with a grain of salt.”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

One user cautioned to take everything in the series with a large grain of salt.

From Salon • Apr. 12, 2026

But users of these chatbots should take all their advice with a grain of salt.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

Many analysts have learned to take Musk's utterances with a grain of salt after earlier predictions about the nearness of fully autonomous driving didn't come to pass.

From Barron's • Jan. 28, 2026

That makes them smaller than a grain of salt.

From Science Daily • Jan. 6, 2026

Over the next eighteen months, this indefatigable machine would produce two thousandths of a gram of plutonium, a quantity about the size of a grain of salt.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.