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with a grain of salt

with a grain of salt
W w

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [with, with ey greyn uhv, ov sawlt]
    • /wɪθ, wɪð eɪ greɪn ʌv, ɒv sɔlt/
    • /wɪð ə ɡreɪn əv sɔːlt/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [with, with ey greyn uhv, ov sawlt]
    • /wɪθ, wɪð eɪ greɪn ʌv, ɒv sɔlt/

Definitions of with a grain of salt words

  • verb with object with a grain of salt to season with salt. 1
  • verb with object with a grain of salt to cure, preserve, or treat with salt. 1
  • verb with object with a grain of salt to furnish with salt: to salt cattle. 1
  • verb with object with a grain of salt to treat with common salt or with any chemical salt. 1
  • verb with object with a grain of salt to spread salt, especially rock salt, on so as to melt snow or ice: The highway department salted the roads after the storm. 1
  • verb with object with a grain of salt to introduce rich ore or other valuable matter fraudulently into (a mine, the ground, a mineral sample, etc.) to create a false impression of value. 1
See all 32 definitions of with a grain of salt

Information block about the term

Origin of with a grain of salt

First appearance:

before 1250
One of the 11% oldest English words
1250-1300; Middle English pinchen < Anglo-French *pinchier (equivalent to Old French pincier, Spanish pinchar) < Vulgar Latin *pīnctiāre, variant of *pūnctiāre to prick (cf. pique1)

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for With a grain of salt

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of With a grain of salt

with a grain of salt popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 93% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

with a grain of salt usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for with a grain of salt

adverb with a grain of salt

All 2 Synonyms of with a grain of salt

See also

Matching words

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