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

The morning-after pill, known as emergency contraception, external, is medication designed to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Hundreds of thousands of women have used a new, free morning-after pill service at high street pharmacies in England, figures reveal.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Last month's trial results showed that its new pill appears to help people lose a similar amount of weight to other GLP-1 oral drugs.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

However, the market for GLP-1s took a turn earlier this year, with the launch of two GLP-1 pills: the Wegovy pill, and Lilly’s Foundayo.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026

I clawed open the pill bottle and choked down the medicine.

From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia

Oral compounds of this kind can be taken as pills and may cost less to manufacture than injectable GLP-1 drugs.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026

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

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

So-called small molecules, which are typically pills dispensed by pharmacies, have generics that are much cheaper in the U.S. than abroad because of the intense price competition that patent expiration unleashes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

I know people who stop taking pills because they cherish those manic spells and the hypercreativity that comes with them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

I take them one at a time with a cup of water she gives me that’s slightly larger than the cup the pills are in.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

Related Words

• dose
• medicine
• tablet