bitter pill

noun

1. a distressing experience or result that is hard to accept (often in the expression a bitter pill to swallow ):

   Being passed over for promotion was a bitter pill to swallow.

Example Sentences

For Randy, a 50-year-old ex-Mormon gay man, this cure was a particularly bitter pill to swallow.

From The Daily Beast

For the Times, which had won four Pulitzer Prizes in 2013, the Snowden slip-up was a bitter pill to swallow.

From The Daily Beast

This is a bitter pill to swallow for those conservatives who supported the war and bitterly fought Obamacare.

From The Daily Beast

Bitter Pill Steven Brill, Time Why medical bills are killing us.

From The Daily Beast

However there is a Bitter Pill that must be recognized and accepted by all for a restructuring to be effective.

From The Daily Beast

This, indeed, to a sincere and earnest man like himself, was a bitter pill; a pill he found it hard to swallow.

From Project Gutenberg

The rascal jumped over in the Channel, and was drowned—the shark got a bitter pill that swallowed him.

From Project Gutenberg

This was harder for me than any of the others, and was indeed a bitter pill.

From Project Gutenberg

It was a bitter pill to have to accept association pilots at last, yet captains and owners agreed that there was no other way.

From Project Gutenberg

It was a bitter pill for far-sighted men like Washington, Madison, and others, who did not believe in slavery.

From Project Gutenberg