sugar the pill

Make something unpleasant more palatable, as in There would be no Christmas bonus this year but management sugared the pill by giving workers extra vacation time over the holidays. [Late 1700s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

As Roberts put it, “He doesn’t try to sugar the pill.”

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But there was no attempt to sugar the pill as he added that scale of the challenge could not be underestimated.

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However, it won’t do to sugar the pill: this was not a memorable final.

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A proven benefit would really sugar the pill for wary politicians.

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He didn’t sugar the pill, telling MPs that many of the measures in the bailout bill will be recessionary.

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