Meaning & use
swallowing pride
Last updated
“swallowing pride” is a form of “swallow pride”.
Meanings
phraseidiom
The act of accepting that you were wrong or that you need help, even though it makes you feel embarrassed or ashamed.
Grammar: Used as a noun phrase or as part of the verb phrase 'swallow your pride'; the possessive adjective changes with the subject (my, your, his, her, our, their).
Patterns
- swallow your pride
- swallowing your pride
- swallow your pride and do something
After weeks of arguing, she finally swallowed her pride and apologized.
Swallowing his pride, he asked his brother for a loan.
It took a lot of swallowing pride for the manager to admit she had made a mistake.
phraseidiom
The act of doing something that hurts your dignity or self-respect because it is necessary.
Grammar: Often used with verbs like 'mean', 'involve', or 'take' to talk about the difficulty of the action.
Patterns
- mean swallowing your pride
- involve swallowing your pride
- take swallowing your pride
Asking for a job at the company that fired him meant swallowing his pride.
For the politician, attending the rival's event was a matter of swallowing pride.
Sometimes swallowing your pride is the only way to move forward.
Word forms
| base form | swallow pride |
|---|---|
| third person singular | swallows pride |
| past tense | swallowed pride |
| past participle | swallowed pride |
| -ing form | swallowing pride |
Common combinations
- swallow your pride and apologize
- He swallowed his pride and apologized to the whole team.
- swallow your pride and ask for help
- She had to swallow her pride and ask for help with the project.
- a matter of swallowing pride
- For him, going back to school was a matter of swallowing pride.
- take a lot of swallowing pride
- It took a lot of swallowing pride to admit he was wrong.
Synonyms and how they differ
- humility
- Humility is a quality of not being proud; swallowing pride is the specific action of putting aside your pride in a difficult moment.
- eating humble pie
- This idiom is similar but often implies you have to admit a mistake publicly and feel embarrassed; swallowing pride can be more private.
Opposites
Word family
- swallow verb
- To cause food or drink to go down your throat; also used figuratively in 'swallow your pride'.
- pride noun
- A feeling of satisfaction in your achievements or the quality of being proud.
- proud adjective
- Feeling pleased about something you or others have done, or having too high an opinion of yourself.
Commonly confused: swallowing pride or swallow up?
swallowing pride vs swallow up
Swallow up means to use all of something or to take control of a smaller company; it does not mean to put aside your pride.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
The idiom is 'swallow your pride', and the verb 'ask' follows directly after 'and'. Option 1 uses the adjective 'proud' instead of the noun 'pride'. Option 2 uses 'to asking' incorrectly, and option 3 uses 'for ask' instead of 'to ask'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “swallowing pride”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.