hard to swallow
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Difficult to accept or believe
Literally: a pill that is hard to swallow
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The news of the job loss was hard to swallow
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “hard to swallow” mean?
Difficult to accept or believe Literally: a pill that is hard to swallow
Is “hard to swallow” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.