pill Definition

pill
noun

1. A small ball or tablet of medicine, for swallowing. Compare capsule, tablet (sense 1).

Thesaurus: tablet, capsule, pellet.
2. Something unpleasant that one must accept.
3. Any of various oral contraceptives, taken by some women (as opposed to men). See also minipill, morning-after pill.

Form: the pill

Idiom: be on the pill

To take oral contraceptives regularly.

Idiom: sugar the pill (sweeten the pill)

To make something that is unpleasant easier to accept or cope with.

Etymology: 15c: from Latin pila ball.