- [countable] a small flat round piece of medicine that you swallow whole, without biting it
- a vitamin pill
- Take three pills daily after meals.
- (informal) pill-popping (= the act of taking too many pills or using illegal drugs)
- The doctor prescribed her some pills to help her sleep.
- I was on various pills for my heart condition.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- diet
- sleeping
- vitamin
- …
- bottle
- pop
- swallow
- take
- …
- the pill, the Pill[singular] a pill that some women take to prevent them becoming pregnant
- the contraceptive pill
- on the pill to be/go on the pill
- Her doctor put her on the pill at 16.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- birth-control
- contraceptive
- abortion
- …
- be on
- go on
- use
- …
- [countable] (North American English) an annoying person
Word Originnoun late Middle English: ultimately from Latin pilula ‘little ball’, diminutive of pila; compare with Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pille.
Idioms
See pill in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee pill in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englisha bitter pill (for somebody) (to swallow)
- a fact or an event that is unpleasant and difficult to accept
- The election defeat was a bitter pill for the party to swallow.
sugar/sweeten the pill
- to do something that makes an unpleasant situation seem less unpleasant synonym sugar-coat
Check pronunciation:
pill