take one's medicine
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to accept and endure an unpleasant situation
Literally: to swallow a medicinal dose
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
She didn't want to apologize, but she knew she had to take her medicine
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 “take one's medicine” mean?
to accept and endure an unpleasant situation Literally: to swallow a medicinal dose
Is “take one's medicine” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.