Word.ws English Dictionary

taking one's medicine

taking one's medicine is the present participle and gerund of take one's medicine.

Meaning of take one's medicine

Verb

take one's medicine (third-person singular simple present takes one's medicine, present participle taking one's medicine, simple past took one's medicine, past participle taken one's medicine)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To endure an unpleasant obligation, especially a punishment.
    • Your resistance to our class won't do you any good . If you'll come out and take your medicine like men, all right; but if you resist it will go that much harder with you.1910, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys at College
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see take, medicine.

Questions about taking one's medicine

What is taking one's medicine the present participle and gerund of?
Taking one's medicine is the present participle and gerund of take one's medicine.

Words near taking one's medicine in the dictionary

  1. taking one's hat off to
  2. taking one's hook
  3. taking one's kit off
  4. taking one's leave
  5. taking one's life in one's hands
  6. taking one's medicine
  7. taking one's own hide to market
  8. taking one's own life
  9. taking one's pick
  10. taking one's place
  11. taking one's rise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taking one's medicine (page history and authors); take one's medicine (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.

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