Bitterness

bit·ter  (btr)

adj. 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).

adv.

In an intense or harsh way; bitterly: a bitter cold night.

tr.v. bit·tered, bit·ter·ing, bit·ters

To make bitter.

n.

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.

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[Middle English, from Old English; see bheid- in Indo-European roots.]

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bitter·ly adv.

bitter·ness n.

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.

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Bitterness 

See Also: ANGER, FRIENDSHIP, LOVE

1. Bitter and sharp as a pulled leek with earth still clinging to it —George Garrett
2. Bitter as a broken friendship —Anon
3. Bitter as acorns —Ann Tyler
4. Bitter as a day of mourning —Joseph Conrad
5. (My youth was) bitter as a hard green fruit —Marilyn Hacker
6. Bitter as alum —Reynolds Price
7. (The air was) bitter as a stiffed hooker —Loren D. Estleman
8. Bitter as a tear —Algernon Charles Swinburne
9. Bitter as blood —Algernon Charles Swinburne
10. Bitter as coffee that’s set too long —Rebecca Rule

    A variation: “Bitter as warmed up coffee.”

11. (His voice was) bitter as dregs —Stephen Crane
12. Bitter as gall —John Webster
13. Bitter as self-sacrifice —Elizabeth Barrett Browning
14. Bitter as soot —Laurence Sterne
15. Bitter as the breaking down of love —Algernon Charles Swinburne
16. Bitter to me as death —William Shakespeare
17. Bitter as wormwood —The Holy Bible/Proverbs
18. Bitterness … kept coming back like a taste in the mouth after eating something bad —Rachel Ingalls
19. Embittered in mind, as a bear robbed of her whelps —The Holy Bible/Samuel
20. A flood of bitterness that washes over me every seven minutes like plagues visited upon a speeded-up pharaoh —William H. Gass

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	bitterness - a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will rancor, rancour, resentment, gall ill will, enmity, hostility - the feeling of a hostile person; "he could no longer contain his hostility" heartburning - intense resentment; "his promotion caused much heartburning among his rivals" huffishness, sulkiness - a feeling of sulky resentment grievance, grudge, score - a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation; "holding a grudge"; "settling a score" enviousness, envy - a feeling of grudging admiration and desire to have something that is possessed by another
	2.	bitterness - a rough and bitter manner             acrimony, jaundice, thorniness, acerbity, tartness disagreeableness - an ill-tempered and offensive disposition
	3.	bitterness - the taste experience when quinine or coffee is taken into the mouth bitter gustatory perception, gustatory sensation, taste, taste perception, taste sensation - the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus; "the candy left him with a bad taste"; "the melon had a delicious taste"
	4.	bitterness - the property of having a harsh unpleasant taste bitter taste property - a property appreciated via the sense of taste acerbity - a sharp bitterness acridness, acridity - extreme bitterness; "the acridity of alkali"

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bitterness

noun

1. trauma, tragedy, grief, misery, sadness, sorrow, anguish, unhappiness, unpleasantness, awfulness the growing bitterness of the dispute

2. resentment, hurt, anger, hostility, indignation, animosity, venom, acrimony, pique, rancour, ill feeling, bad blood, ill will, umbrage, vexation, asperity I still feel bitterness and anger.

3. sourness, acidity, sharpness, tartness, acerbity, vinegariness the strength and bitterness of the drink

4. intense cold, bite, chill, sting, sharpness, bitter cold, frostiness, iciness the bitterness of the British climate

Translations

bitterness [ˈbɪtənɪs] N

1. (= taste) → amargor m

2. (= iciness) → crudeza f

3. (= fierceness) [of struggle, fight] → lo enconado; [of hatred] → lo implacable

4. (= resentfulness) → amargura f, rencor m
I accepted it without bitterness → lo acepté sin amargura or sin rencor
I have no bitterness towards you → no le guardo rencor
a look of bitterness → una mirada de amargura

5. (= depth) [of disappointment] → amargura f

bitterness [ˈbɪtə^rnɪs] n

[substance] → goût m amer

(= feeling) → amertume f

[dispute] → âpreté f

bitterness

n

(of taste) → Bitterkeit f

(of cold, winter) → Bitterkeit f; (of weather, wind) → bittere Kälte

(of struggle, opposition) → Erbittertheit f

(of disappointment, hatred, reproach, remorse) → Bitterkeit f; (of criticism) → Schärfe f, → Heftigkeit f; such was the bitterness of his disappointment/jealousy → er war so bitter enttäuscht/derart eifersüchtig

(= anger) → Bitterkeit f; (of person also) → Verbitterung f

bitterness [ˈbɪtənɪs] n (gen) → amarezza; (of fruit) (fig) (of quarrel) → asprezza