Sugar/sweeten the pill
verb
To make an unpleasant or difficult situation easier to accept or deal with.
To sugar the pill, they are offering a cash incentive if people volunteer for redundancy.
Often appears as...
- sugar the redundancy pill
- sugar the retirement pill
Usage tips
Neutral
Idiomatic
verb
To make bad news, a harsh judgement, or a difficult task easier to accept by accompanying it with something pleasant or advantageous.
The manager tried to sweeten the pill of the layoffs by promising a generous severance package.
Often appears as...
- sweeten the dismissal pill
- sweeten the rejection pill
Usage tips
Neutral
Idiomatic
verb
To make an unpleasant or difficult situation easier to accept or deal with.
To sugar the pill, they are offering a cash incentive if people volunteer for redundancy.
Often appears as...
- sugar the redundancy pill
- sugar the retirement pill
Usage tips
Neutral
Idiomatic
verb
To make bad news, a harsh judgement, or a difficult task easier to accept by accompanying it with something pleasant or advantageous.
The manager tried to sweeten the pill of the layoffs by promising a generous severance package.
Often appears as...
- sweeten the dismissal pill
- sweeten the rejection pill
Usage tips
Neutral
Idiomatic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Figurative Use
Not about actual sugar or pills. Used metaphorically to describe making a tough situation nicer.
To ease the news of the longer working hours, the boss decided to sugar the pill with a bonus.
Pro Tip 2/3Softening Impact
Used when trying to lessen the negative impact or feeling associated with receiving bad news.
The teacher sugared the pill of extra homework with a promise of a class party after completion.
Pro Tip 3/3Common Contexts
Often used in professional or personal situations where changes are unavoidable but the effects can be eased.
To sugar the pill of moving to a new city, his parents bought him a new bicycle.
Pro Tip 1/3Figurative Use
Not about actual sugar or pills. Used metaphorically to describe making a tough situation nicer.
To ease the news of the longer working hours, the boss decided to sugar the pill with a bonus.
Pro Tip 2/3Softening Impact
Used when trying to lessen the negative impact or feeling associated with receiving bad news.
The teacher sugared the pill of extra homework with a promise of a class party after completion.
Pro Tip 3/3Common Contexts
Often used in professional or personal situations where changes are unavoidable but the effects can be eased.
To sugar the pill of moving to a new city, his parents bought him a new bicycle.
Pro Tip 1/3Figurative Use
Not about actual sugar or pills. Used metaphorically to describe making a tough situation nicer.
To ease the news of the longer working hours, the boss decided to sugar the pill with a bonus.
Pro Tip 2/3Softening Impact
Used when trying to lessen the negative impact or feeling associated with receiving bad news.
The teacher sugared the pill of extra homework with a promise of a class party after completion.
Pro Tip 3/3Common Contexts
Often used in professional or personal situations where changes are unavoidable but the effects can be eased.
To sugar the pill of moving to a new city, his parents bought him a new bicycle.
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