Meaning & use
a bitter person
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Meanings
phrasecountabledisapproving
Someone who stays angry and resentful about past disappointments and shows it in a sour, unforgiving attitude.
Grammar: Used with 'a' for one person and 'bitter people' for more than one: 'He has become a bitter person.'
Patterns
- become a bitter person
- a bitter person about something
- turn someone into a bitter person
After years of failed job applications, he turned into a bitter person who blamed everyone else.
She is not a bitter person; she simply learned to move on from what happened.
People described the old coach as a bitter person who never forgave the player who left.
phrasecountableinformal
Used more loosely to describe someone who seems permanently unhappy, sharp-tongued or hard to please.
Grammar: Here it describes a mood or manner rather than deep resentment; often softened with 'a bit of a'.
Patterns
- a bit of a bitter person
- come across as a bitter person
He can come across as a bitter person, but he is actually just shy.
Don't let one bad year make you a bitter person.
Common combinations
- become bitter
- He became bitter after the company let him go.
- a bitter disappointment
- Losing the final was a bitter disappointment for the team.
- bitter about something
- She is still bitter about how she was treated.
- a bitter old man
- The novel's hero ends up as a bitter old man.
Synonyms and how they differ
- resentful
- Focuses on the angry feeling of being treated unfairly; it describes the feeling, while 'a bitter person' describes the whole character.
- embittered
- More formal and often used in writing; it stresses that bad experiences made the person this way.
- cynical
- About distrusting people's motives rather than holding onto old hurt, so it fits a different kind of negativity.
Opposites
Word family
- bitterness noun
- The angry, resentful feeling itself.
- bitterly adverb
- In a way that shows anger or deep disappointment, as in 'she complained bitterly'.
- embitter verb
- To make someone feel angry and resentful over time.
Commonly confused: a bitter person or a better person? a bitter person or a bitter taste?
a bitter person vs a better person
This sounds almost the same but means someone improved morally, the opposite kind of comment.
a bitter person vs a bitter taste
Here 'bitter' is the sharp flavor, not a personality description.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'a bitter person' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'A bitter person' means someone who holds onto resentment, so the promotion example fits. The coffee, food and birthday options use 'bitter' about taste or have no link to resentment at all.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a bitter person”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.