Word.ws English Dictionary

pill

/pɪl/

pill noun: a small, usually round or cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication.

pill: a small, usually round or cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some...
Image: Markus Würfel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

pill (plural pills)

  1. (broadly) A small, usually round or cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication.
    • Take two pills every hour in the apyrexia of intermittent fever, until eight are taken.1864, Benjamin Ellis, The Medical Formulary
    1. (broadly, strictly) Such an object that is of solid constitution (usually of compressed, bonded powder) rather than a capsule (with a shell containing loose powder or liquid).
  2. (definite, informal, uncountable, i.e. used with "the") Contraceptive medication, usually in the form of a pill to be taken by a woman; an oral contraceptive pill.
    • Jane went on the pill when she left for college.
    • She got pregnant one month after going off the pill.
  3. Something offensive, unpleasant or nauseous which must be accepted or endured.
    • "It's a sad unpalatable truth," said Mr. Pembroke, thinking that the despondency might be personal, "but one must accept it. My sister and Gerald, I am thankful to say, have accepted it, so naturally it has been a little pill."1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, III [Uniform ed., p. 45]
  4. (slang) A contemptible, annoying, or unpleasant person.
    • You see, he's egging Phyllis on to marry Wilbert Cream. [...] And when a man like that eggs, something has to give, especially when the girl's a pill like Phyllis, who always does what Daddy tells her.1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter IV
    • Instead, I saw a woman in her mid-fifties, who was a real pill; while all the others had managed a decent “So pleased,” or even a plain “Hello,” Ginger just inclined her head, as if she was doing a Queen Mary imitation.2000, Susan Isaacs, Shining Through
  5. (slang) A comical or entertaining person.
  6. A small piece of any substance, for example a ball of fibers formed on the surface of a textile fabric by rubbing.
    • One sleeve, threadbare and loaded with what my mother called “sweater pills,” hung halfway to the floor.1999, Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True
  7. (slang) A baseball.
    • "Strike two!" bawled the umpire. I threw the pill back to Tom with a heart which drummed above the noise of the rooters along the side lines.1931, Canadian National Magazine, page 17
    • Mr. Fisher contributed to the Sox effort when he threw the pill past second baseman Rath after Felsch hit him a comebacker.2002, John Klima, Pitched Battle: 35 of Baseball's Greatest Duels from the Mound
  8. (slang) A bullet (projectile).
    Synonyms:
    cap
  9. A rounded rectangle containing a brief text caption indicating the tag or category that an item belongs to.

Verb (1)

pill (third-person singular simple present pills, present participle pilling, simple past and past participle pilled)

  1. (intransitive) Of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber.
    • This sweater is already pilled: it fuzzed after the very first wash.
    • During processing, inferior short fibers (which can cause pilling and itching) are removed to enhance the natural softness of the yarn and to improve its wash-and-wear performance.1997, Jo Sharp, Knitted Sweater Style: Inspirations in Color
  2. To form into the shape of a pill.
    • Pilling is a skill rarely used by modern pharmacists.
  3. (transitive) To medicate with pills; to administer pills to.
    • She pills herself with all sorts of herbal medicines.
    • Pilling the cat is such a nightmare.
  4. (intransitive) To take recreational drugs in pill form.
    • Nev offered it to Layla who replied, "Thanks, but at the moment I'm pilling and it will bring me down."2017, Michael Coleman, Old Skool Rave, page 182
  5. (Internet, transitive) To persuade or convince someone of something.
  6. (UK, dated, slang, transitive) To blackball (a potential club member).
    • “I pilled him because he is a liar,” said Thackeray. “He calls himself 'ill' when he isn't.”1907, Arthur Griffiths, Clubs and Clubmen, page 260

Verb (2)

pill (third-person singular simple present pills, present participle pilling, simple past and past participle pilled)

  1. (obsolete) To peel; to remove the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.
  2. To peel; to make by removing the skin.
    • [Jacob] pilled white streaks[…]in the rods.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 30:37
  3. To be peeled; to peel off in flakes.
  4. (obsolete) To pillage; to despoil or impoverish.
    • So syr Lucan departed for he was greuously wounded in many places And so as he yede he sawe and herkened by the mone lyght how that pyllars and robbers were comen in to the felde To pylle and robbe many a ful noble knyghte of brochys and bedys of many a good rynge & of many a ryche Iewel / and who...1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “iiij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XXI
    • The Galles and thoſe pilling Briggandines,
      That yeerely ſaile to the Uenetian goulfe,
      And houer in the ſtraightes for Chriſtians wracke,
      Shall lie at anchor in the Iſle Aſant.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...

Noun (2)

pill (plural pills)

  1. (obsolete) The peel or skin.
    • Some be covered with crusts or hard pills, as the locust1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C....
    • To make Sallet of Lemon pill, or green Citron. You must have your Lemon Pill preserved very green, Rasp it into a Dish, and raise it up lightly with a Fork […]1682, A perfect school of Instructions for the Officers of the Mouth, page 148

Noun (3)

pill (plural pills)

  1. (UK, regional) An inlet on the coast; a small tidal pool or bay. Pill can occur in the name of such an inlet.
    • Portishead, lying west-north-west of Bristol, on the Severn, had a small port from medieval times on its pill, or inlet, and began to develop as a seaside resort early in the nineteenth century, when it was served by steam packets from Bristol.1955 June, C. L. Mowat, “The Bristol & Portishead Pier & Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 371
    • For fifty years, then, five times a week, the packet steamers came and went along that superb stretch of blue water, the trains rattled down the wooded valley of the pill, and their passengers rested and refreshed themselves in thriving New Milford, where flunkeys bowed before the best hotel. Those...1956 September, F. F. Nicholls, “Neyland, A Forgotten Harbour”, in Railway Magazine, pages 629-630

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Pill

Pill

  1. A village in Pill and Easton-in-Gordano parish, North Somerset district, Somerset, England (OS grid ref ST5275).

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Pill

Pill

  1. A municipality of Tyrol, Austria.

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Pill

Pill

  1. A surname.

pill meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

pill in Hindi

small object for swallowing
गोली golī, गुटिका guṭikā, टैबलेट ṭaibleṭ

pill in Tamil

small object for swallowing
மாத்திரை māttirai

pill in Marathi

small object for swallowing
गोळी goḷī

pill in Urdu

small object for swallowing
گولی golī, ٹَیبْلیٹ ṭaibleṭ
More languagesFewer languages
pill in Bengali
পিল pil, বটিকা boṭika
pill in Telugu
మాత్ర mātra
pill in Malayalam
ഗുളിക guḷika
pill in Kannada
ಔಷಧದ ಗುಳಿಗೆ, ಮಾತ್ರೆ, ಗುಳಿಗೆ, ಕಡುಹು
pill in Gujarati
ગોળી goḷī
pill in Sanskrit
गुड guḍá
pill in Assamese
বৰি bori, টেবলেট tebolet, গুলী guli
pill in Pashto
ګولۍ golᶕy, تابلېت tāblet
pill in Arabic
حَبَّة دَوَاء ḥabbat dawāʔ, قُرْص qurṣ, حَبّ ḥabb, حَبَّة ḥabba
pill in Malay
pil, tablet
pill in Indonesian
pil, tablet
pill in Thai
ยาเม็ด yaa-mét, เม็ด mét
pill in Vietnamese
viên, viên thuốc
pill in Myanmar
ဆေးလုံး hce:lum:
Dhivehi
ގުޅަ guḷa

Examples of pill in a sentence

  • I'm tearing down your brooder house / 'Cause now I've got the pill1975, “The Pill”, in Back to the Country, performed by Loretta Lynn:
  • Many specialists are requesting that this vitamin be included in all contraceptive pills, as women on the pill have a tendency to be depressed.1986, Jurriaan Plesman, Getting Off the Hook: Treatment of Drug Addiction and Social Disorders Through Body and Mind:

All 40 example sentences with pill

Synonyms of pill

All synonyms of pill

Forms of pill

Noun
pluralpills
alternative formp1ll
Verb
third-person singular presentpills
present participlepilling
past participlepilled
pastpilled

Plural of pill: pills

Origin of pill

From Middle English pille (also pillem), a borrowing from Middle Low German pille or Middle Dutch pille (whence Dutch pil), probably from Latin pila, pilula. * (persuade or convince): Generalized from red pill.

From Middle English pillen, pilen, from Old English pilian (“to peel”), from Latin pilō (“depilate”), from pilus (“hair”). Doublet of peel.

From Middle English *pill, *pyll, from Old English pyll (“a pool, pill”), from Proto-Germanic *pullijaz (“small pool, ditch, creek”), diminutive of Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“pool, stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *bl̥nos (“bog, marsh”). Cognate with Old English pull (“pool, creek”), Scots poll (“slow moving stream, creek, inlet”), Icelandic pollur (“pond, pool, puddle”). More at pool.

Words formed from pill

Phrases with pill

54 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with pill

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about pill

What does pill mean?
Pill means a small, usually round or cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication.
What is pill in Hindi?
Pill in Hindi is गोली (golī), गुटिका (guṭikā), टैबलेट (ṭaibleṭ). See Pill meaning in Hindi.
How do you use pill in a sentence?
I'm tearing down your brooder house / 'Cause now I've got the pill
What part of speech is pill?
Pill can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce pill?
Pill is pronounced /pɪl/.
What is the plural of pill?
The plural of pill is pills.

Words near pill in the dictionary

  1. Pilkentons
  2. Pilkington
  3. Pilkingtons
  4. Pilkinton
  5. Pilkintons
  6. pill
  7. Pill and Easton-in-Gordano
  8. pill beetle
  9. pill beetles
  10. pill board
  11. pill boards

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pill (page history and authors); Pill (page history and authors); ഗുളിക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); pill (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); गुड (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-pill.ogg, en-us-pill.ogg.

Cite this entry: “pill.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pill. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.