take it with a pinch of salt

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

accept a claim or piece of information with a degree of scepticism rather than believing it completely; treat something as likely to be exaggerated, unreliable, or only partially true and therefore requiring critical evaluation; the phrase derives from the ancient practice of taking antidotes with a grain of salt to neutralise poison, suggesting that a pinch of doubt counteracts the toxicity of falsehood