swallow whole

verb

To believe (a lie, excuse, story etc.) in its entirety and without question.

Similar
take at face value
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbswallow whole (third-person singular simple present swallows whole, present participle swallowing whole, simple past and past participle swallowed whole)

present singular third person swallows whole · participle present swallowing whole · participle past swallowed whole · past swallowed whole

  1. idiomatictransitiveTo believe (a lie, excuse, story etc.) in its entirety and without question.

    It forbiddeth us to swallow whole the Doctrines and Precepts of men, without examination of them.

    1683, Isaac Barrow, A treatise of the Pope's supremacy to which is added A discourse concerning the unity of the church

    Synonyms: take at face value

  2. transitiveTo take in, absorb or comprehend something (information, news, etc.) in its entirety.
  3. transitiveTo destroy entirely and instantly.

    […] when the so-caled^([sic]) First Amendment Defense Act has the capacity to swallow whole almost all of our hard-won protections, if upheld by the courts.

    2017 February 15, Patrick, kenneth in the (212), archived from the original on 17 Nov 2019

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo believe (a lie, excuse, story etc.) in its entirety and without question.

Similar
take at face value
Cite this entry
APA

swallow whole. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swallow%20whole

MLA

“swallow whole.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swallow%20whole. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “swallow whole,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swallow%20whole.

Source: swallow whole on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.