swallow a bitter pill

swallow a bitter pill

To accept, usually reluctantly, an unwanted or unpleasant situation or truth. Brett had to swallow a bitter pill when his parents stopped giving him money to pay his bills and told him to get a job. I guess we're just going to have to swallow a bitter pill and move on—they're never going to give us our money back.

See also: bitter, pill, swallow

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.