to swallow
146
7.2
- verb
- /ˈswɑloʊ/
- Informal
:
tragarse
- Actually, this is gonna be a little difficult to swallow...
- swallow your pride
- hard to swallow
- swallow a bitter pill
But God forbid he had swallowed hook, line and sinker.
- But God forbid he had swallowed hook, line and sinker.
- Now Joe Biden's going to have trouble swallowing this next one.
- He is not doing well with it, but he's got to swallow it, and he shouldn't.
- It's still difficult to to swallow that, but it's a little bit less complex.
- That red pill took me a decade to swallow.
- Or is it just too much to swallow?
- So it was a pill to swallow.
- It wasn't too hard to swallow with dirty money.
- And millions of our neighbors swallow this true.
Examples
-
That's very sad and hard for me to swallow, but it just kind of is what it is.
-
It's still difficult to to swallow that, but it's a little bit less complex.
-
Will you swallow an opinion to continue a relationship?
-
Hard cheese to swallow, but there it is.
-
Critiques and new ideas are much easier to swallow with food and drink.
Academic text (2006) -
I know, that's a tough pill to swallow.
-
Swallow your pride.
-
It was hard for him to swallow the news that he didn't get the job he wanted.
-
She tried to swallow her disappointment when her plans fell through.
-
Sometimes you just have to swallow your pride and apologize for your mistakes.
Synonyms
∞
3.5
To tolerate an unpleasant situation without complaining
563
3.9
To accept something unpleasant that you cannot change
18
4.5
Believe something is true without checking it
9
6.1
To accept or live with an idea that makes you unhappy
8
7.2
To accept unfair treatment or criticism without complaining
3
8.8
Accept something unpleasant without complaining
To accept something unpleasant during talks to avoid bigger problems
Antonyms
Idioms
- Archaic
To accept something unpleasant during talks to avoid bigger problems
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
1
6.9
A small bird that lives in colonies and builds bottle-shaped mud nests on cliffs and walls
- Australian
A small bird from Asia and Australia that looks like a swallow and has a hooked beak
- UK
A plant that lives for many years with bright yellow flowers in dry, rocky places
- Specialized
A dive where the diver bends the back and stretches the arms before entering the water
- UK
A hole in the ground where water goes underground into caves, often in limestone
A formal men's jacket with a cut-away front and two long tails worn for evening events
A large North American hunting bird with black and white feathers and a deeply forked tail
- US
A small North American bird with shiny blue-green back and white belly that nests in tree holes
A small bird with a blue-green back and white belly that nests in tree holes
How Willing
233
1.0
793
1.0
- Informal
146
7.2
716
1.7
311
2.2
Surface Forms
Etymology
To swallow in the sense 'accept or tolerate' comes from the same old word swelgan 'to gulp down', so you can remember it like taking a bitter pill — you 'swallow' an unpleasant fact without protest.