take the sting out of sth
If something takes the sting out of an unpleasant situation, it makes it less unpleasant:
The new policy of shorter working hours will serve to take the sting out of the pay cut.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Making things better
- a shot in the arm idiom
- add salt to sth idiom
- allay
- alleviate
- ameliorate
- heal
- make sb/sth over
- mitigate
- mollify
- more
- palliate
- redeem
- relieve
- salve
- spice
- spice sth up
- sting
- straighten
- straighten sb out
- streamline
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