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sugar the pill

Idioms  

  1. Make something unpleasant more palatable, as in There would be no Christmas bonus this year but management sugared the pill by giving workers extra vacation time over the holidays. [Late 1700s]

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.

But there was no attempt to sugar the pill as he added that scale of the challenge could not be underestimated.

From BBC • Sep. 8, 2021

A proven benefit would really sugar the pill for wary politicians.

From Economist • Nov. 26, 2015

He didn’t sugar the pill, telling MPs that many of the measures in the bailout bill will be recessionary.

From The Guardian • Jul. 15, 2015

While delegates in the hall applauded Cable's plans to sugar the pill of partial privatisation for the Royal Mail, unions said it was patronising.

From The Guardian • Sep. 22, 2010

Nevertheless, Susan Kidwell and her mother had managed to sugar the pill and install a cozy atmosphere in their apartment—three rooms on the ground floor.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

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.