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Glite Dictionary
to take the red pill

to take the red pill

9.2
To accept a painful truth that changes what you believed
  • idiom
  • Slang
translation icon : tomar la pastilla roja
  • Many people fear to take the red pill because it forces them to confront harsh realities about society.

It's sort of like taking the red pill and the matrix and being able to see through the Maya, the illusion.

Examples

  • But the cool part is, if you take the red pill, you can get out of the program.

  • It's sort of like taking the red pill and the matrix and being able to see through the Maya, the illusion.

    Rich Roll

  • Oh, most of you actually have taken the red pill and you did get out of the program, not necessarily for a long time, but you stepped out.

  • So you saying that girls that men have seen the the light and taken the red pill in in college and girls are still got the Whirlpool.

  • After much reflection, she decided to take the red pill and accept the truth about her past mistakes.

  • He knew that to take the red pill would mean giving up his comfortable beliefs for a more challenging understanding of life.

Synonyms

to learn the truth
vsto take the red pill
31 3.0

To find out what really happened

is a deliberate acceptance of hard truths that challenge existing beliefs
to face facts
vsto take the red pill
  • Informal
30 4.1

Accept the truth about a difficult situation

is a choice to learn deeper uncomfortable truths that alter prior views
to face the truth
vsto take the red pill
16 3.7

Accept real facts even when they are painful

is a deliberate choice to learn a truth that challenges beliefs
to wise up
vsto take the red pill
  • Informal
16 7.1

To learn the true facts after not knowing them

is a conscious decision to accept hard truths that change your worldview
to awake to the reality
vsto take the red pill
7.2

Notice the true situation after ignoring or misunderstanding it

is an active choice to learn difficult truths that confront prior assumptions

Antonyms

to deny
∞ 2.0

To say that something is not true

How Aware

to take the red pill
  • Slang
9.2
to recognize
  • US
705 1.4
to suspect
925 3.6

Surface Forms

take the red pill infinitive
taking the red pill present participle
takes the red pill third person singular
took the red pill past
taken the red pill past participle

Morphology

take + the + red + pill

The specific meaning of choosing to accept an uncomfortable truth depends on a cultural reference (The Matrix) and is not derivable from the literal senses of 'take' + 'red' + 'pill'. Although 'pill' can be metaphorically linked to unpleasant truths (e.g. 'a bitter pill to swallow'), the color 'red' and the full phrase encode a culturally specific choice rather than a transparent composition, so learners who only know the constituent words would not reliably infer the intended meaning.

Etymology

The phrase take the red pill comes from a popular movie where a person is offered a red pill to see the real world and a blue pill to stay in a comfortable fake world. So, to take the red pill means 'to choose to learn or accept an uncomfortable truth'.