sweeten the pill | Idiomator

Meaning: Synonym ofsugarcoat the pill.1807January 13,Thomas Jefferson, “Letter toJohn Dickinson”, inThe Papers of Thomas Jefferson‎[1]:This would notsweeten the pillto the French; but in making that acquisition we had some view to our own good as well as theirs, and I believe the greatest good of both will be promoted by whatever will amalgamate us together.1880,Louisa May Alcott, chapter XXIII, inJack and Jill: A Village Story:Exercise of all sorts is one of the lessons we are to learn,” said Mrs. Minot, suggesting all the pleasant things she could tosweeten the pillfor her pupils, two of whom did love their books, not being old enough to know that even an excellent thing may be overdone.2024September 4, Philip Haigh, “Can public-private partnerships be made to deliver?”, inRAIL, number1017, page53:Itsweetened this pillby explaining that this figure was not a direct loss - that it was only £170-£410m (£280-£670m today) - because we benefited from Metronet's capital spending.

Examples:

EN: You wanted to sweeten the pill by taking me out to a fancy restaurant?
ES: ¿Quieres endulzar las cosas trayéndome a un restaurante de lujo?
EN: I take your point, but I still think it's worth trying to sweeten the pill when it comes to questions of sexuality.
ES: Entiendo su punto, pero aún así creo que vale la pena intentar suavizar las cuestiones de sexualidad.
EN: Look, sweeten the pill, but they need to know their daughter's a pig, and unless we can find a client looking for someone with bad skin and a face that looks like it's been hit by a shovel, she'd be better off getting a job
ES: Mira, bailales el agua, pero lo que tienen que saber es que su hija es un cerdito, y a menos que encontremos a un cliente que esté buscando a alguien con una piel de asco y una cara que parece golpeada con una pala, será mejor que encuentre un trabajo
EN: To sweeten the pill?
ES: ¿Para endulzar la píldora?
EN: I'm afraid there's no way to sweeten the pill.
ES: Me temo que... no hay forma de... dorar la píldora.
EN: It helps to sweeten the pill.
ES: Eso puede ayudar a tragarse el clavo.
EN: To sweeten the pill.
ES: Le puede servir de consuelo.
EN: If you were a guy just for hire, we could sweeten the pill.
ID: Jika kau sopir sewaan biasa, takkan kami ampuni.
EN: I take your point, but I still think it's worth trying to sweeten the pill... when it comes to questions of sexuality.
ID: Aku tahu maksudmu, tapi aku masih berpikir ada baiknya mencoba mempermanis pil... saat datang pertanyaan tentang seksualitas.
EN: Sorry, I wanted to sweeten the pill with a nice dinner, and you look really angry.
ID: Maaf. Aku mau mempermanisnya dengan makan malam. -Kau tampak amat marah.
EN: Uh, I brought the marzipan to sweeten the pill.
ID: Aku membawa marzipan untuk mempermanis pilnya.

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