| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| bitter |
| |
| SYLLABICATION: | bit·ter |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  b t  r |
| ADJECTIVE: | Inflected forms: bit·ter·er, bit·ter·est
1. Having or being a taste that is sharp, acrid, and unpleasant. 2. Causing a sharply unpleasant, painful, or stinging sensation; harsh: enveloped in bitter cold; a bitter wind. 3. Difficult or distasteful to accept, admit, or bear: the bitter truth; bitter sorrow. 4. Proceeding from or exhibiting strong animosity: a bitter struggle; bitter foes. 5. Resulting from or expressive of severe grief, anguish, or disappointment: cried bitter tears. 6. Marked by resentment or cynicism: “He was already a bitter elderly man with a gray face” (John Dos Passos). | | ADVERB: | In an intense or harsh way; bitterly: a bitter cold night. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: bit·tered, bit·ter·ing, bit·ters
To make bitter. | | NOUN: | 1. That which is bitter: “all words . . . /Failing to give the bitter of the sweet” (Tennyson). 2. bitters A bitter, usually alcoholic liquid made with herbs or roots and used in cocktails or as a tonic. 3. Chiefly British A sharp-tasting beer made with hops. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old English. See bheid- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | bitter·ly —ADVERB
bitter·ness —NOUN
| | SYNONYMS: | bitter, acerbic, acrid These adjectives mean unpleasantly sharp or pungent in taste or smell: a bitter cough syrup; an acerbic green apple; acrid smoke.
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
