red pill

1 of 2

noun

variants or less commonly Red Pill

plural red pills also Red Pills

slang

: something that causes someone to become aware of or recognize the truth or facts (as of a situation)

—usually used in the phrase take the red pill

… take the red pill and learn more about the leading causes of climate change and its effects.

—Elizabeth Jenkins

—often used by and about followers of ultra-conservative or extremist ideologies to refer to the adoption of such ideologies

But taking the red pill … is much more commonly used on the internet to denote a right-wing political awakening.

—Jake Swearingen

… a term used in masculinist communities, "taking the red pill", which describes awakening to the "fact" that women are vain and vacuous and select their partners solely on genetically determined physical attributes.

—Newsweek.com

—sometimes used before another noun

the red pill movement

red piller

ˈred-ˌpi-lər 

noun

plural red pillers

red pill

2 of 2

verb

variants or red-pill

ˈred-ˌpil 

red pilled or red-pilled; red pilling or red-pilling; red pills or red-pills

transitive verb

: to make (someone) aware of the truth or facts of something in order to persuade them (as to join a group of like-minded believers)

I was actually not familiar at all with … crypto development in general. And so he sort of red pilled me into giving it a shot.

—Richard Wu, on The Zeitgeist podcast

especially : to indoctrinate (someone) with an ultra-conservative or extremist ideology

"Focus less on trying to red pill or recruit them … and more on how to make them angrier about the election and the new Democrat regime," read a white supremacist recruitment message on Telegram.

—Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny

I had been "red-pilled," which is a term from the 1999 film "The Matrix" used to describe a person's awakening to a previously unseen reality. Male supremacists, however, co-opted the phrase to illustrate what happens when they "realize" they are at the impulse of women and feminists.

—Bryan Campbell

… she talked about the conversion—getting "red-pilled," as she jokingly called it—that has led her to distrust government health advisories, mainstream media and even the Republican Party.

—Jack Lyons

red-pilled adjective

or less commonly redpilled or red pilled

There are any number of reasons they may have chosen to pay up: Perhaps the tech elite have become genuinely red-pilled, fear regulation, or don't want to lose out on government contracts.

—Charlie Warzel

… if you described yourself as "red-pilled," it meant you'd accepted the supposed reality that the spread of feminism had rendered society anti-male.

—Alex Pappademas

Examples of red pill in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

In the scene, Keanu Reeves’ Neo must take the red pill in order to be freed from the Matrix. —Jack Dunn, Variety, 30 Nov. 2025

Amid an influx of trends, like the red pill movement, data shows that men are by and large putting off commitment for longer. —Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025

Joining OneTaste was sometimes referred to as taking the red pill. —Thessaly La Force, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2025

And remember, behind most red pill beliefs are real emotions—loneliness, rejection, insecurity, or confusion. —Sherri Gordon, Parents, 29 July 2025

The film’s centerpiece red pill versus blue pill moment centers the frame among oversized, glowing capsules. —Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2025

Similarly, executives who take the entrepreneurial red pill often discover versions of themselves and possibilities for impact that remained invisible from their corporate vantage point. —Isabelita Castilho, Forbes.com, 14 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

from a scene in the American science fiction film The Matrix (1999) in which the protagonist must choose between a blue pill that would cause him to forget his recent experiences and return to his former life, and a red pill that would show him the real world, in which humans live in a simulated reality created by intelligent machines that have enslaved them

Verb

derivative of red pill entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1999, in the meaning defined above

Verb

2015, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for red pill

• anthill
• backfill
• bluegill
• crossbill
• distil
• distill
• downhill
• dunghill
• foothill
• fulfil
• fulfill
• goodwill