with a grain of salt

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Also, with a pinch of salt. Skeptically, with reservations. For example, I always take Sandy's stories about illnesses with a grain of salt—she tends to exaggerate. This expression is a translation of the Latin cum grano salis, which Pliny used in describing Pompey's discovery of an antidote for poison (to be taken with a grain of salt). It was soon adopted by English writers.

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Words nearby with a grain of salt

witchweed, witchy, wite, witenagemot, with, with a grain of salt, withal, with all due respect, with all one's heart, with an eye to, with a vengeance

How to use with a grain of salt in a sentence

ROME — What does it take for a Hollywood A-lister to get a private audience with Pope Francis?
Pope Francis Has the Pleasure of Meeting Angelina Jolie for a Few Seconds|Barbie Latza Nadeau|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Yes, Byrd—dead four-and-a-half years now—was a Kleagle in the Ku Klux Klan.
Steve Scalise and the Right’s Ridiculous Racial Blame Game|Michael Tomasky|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
By the time it concluded with a sing-a-long of “XO,” Beyoncé had done the rare thing.
Bow Down, Bitches: How Beyoncé Turned an Elevator Brawl Into a Perfect Year|Kevin Fallon|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Dallas Cowboys sell out their state-of-the art football stadium.
Will Texas Stay Texan?|David Fontana|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST

In another year, stories about the strange new face of an A-list actress might draw chortles and cackles.
Renée Zellweger Got a New Face—and Everyone Had An Opinion About It|Kevin O’Keeffe|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And I have not had the first morsel of food prepared from this grain offered me since I reached the shores of Europe.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
Now-a-days it is the bankrupt who flouts, and his too confiding creditors who are jeered and laughed at.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
The Afghan was true to his salt, and their own retainers, who had come with them from Lucknow, remained steadfast at this crisis.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
He felt himself the meanest, vilest thing a-crawl upon this sinful earth, and she—dear God!
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
Even if poverty were gone, the flail could still beat hard enough upon the grain and chaff of humanity.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock

with a grain of salt

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