Meaning & use
bile
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Meanings
noununcountablebiologymedical
A bitter greenish-brown fluid made by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, which helps the body digest fat.
Grammar: Uncountable: the liver makes bile.
Patterns
- bile from the liver
- bile duct
The liver makes bile, which helps digest fatty foods.
Doctors found a stone blocking the flow of bile.
Bile is stored in the gallbladder between meals.
noununcountablefigurativeliterary
Bitter, spiteful anger or ill temper, especially as shown in speech or writing.
Grammar: Figurative: she was full of bile.
Patterns
- full of bile
- spit bile
The online comments were full of bile.
He wrote a review dripping with bile.
She spat out her bile at the committee.
noununcountablearchaic
In old medical belief, one of the four body fluids thought to shape a person's temper.
Grammar: A historical sense: yellow bile and black bile were thought to cause anger and sadness.
Patterns
- yellow bile
- black bile
Ancient doctors believed too much yellow bile made a person quick to anger.
In the old theory of humors, black bile caused sadness.
The writer used the idea of bile to describe a bitter mood.
Common combinations
- bile duct
- A small stone blocked the bile duct.
- bile acid
- Bile acid helps break down fats.
- vomit bile
- After the bug he began to vomit bile.
- rise in the throat
- Bile rose in her throat when she smelled the spoiled fish.
- full of bile
- His letter was full of bile and resentment.
- spew bile
- The commentator spewed bile at his critics.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gall
- Gall is an older word for bile and for bitter feelings, and it also means rude boldness, as in the gall to ask.
- spleen
- Spleen is used for bad temper or anger and suggests peevish, irritable spite.
- venom
- Venom stresses poisonous, vicious hatred in what someone says, whereas bile suggests sour bitterness.
- bitterness
- Bitterness is the general word for resentment and lacks the physical, slightly disgusting image of bile.
Opposites
Word family
- bilious adjective
- sick from too much bile, or bad-tempered
- biliary adjective
- relating to bile or the bile ducts
- biliousness noun
- a feeling of sickness or a cranky mood
- bilirubin noun
- a yellow substance in bile
Commonly confused: bile or bilge? bile or bite?
bile vs bilge
Bilge is the lowest part of a ship's hull where dirty water collects, and informally it means nonsense; bile is a body fluid or bitter anger.
bile vs bite
A bite is what you do with your teeth; bile is a body fluid or bitter anger.
Practice
What does it mean to say a comment was 'full of bile'?
Choose one answer.
Figuratively, bile means spiteful, bitter anger, so a comment full of bile is hostile. Short, funny or planned comments have nothing to do with the word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bile”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.