Meaning & use
bitter
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Having a sharp, harsh taste that is the opposite of sweet, like black coffee or the skin of a grapefruit.
Grammar: Gradable: slightly bitter, more bitter, very bitter.
Patterns
- taste bitter
- a bitter taste
The medicine had a bitter taste, so I drank water straight after.
Dark chocolate can be too bitter for some children.
If you steep the tea too long, it turns bitter.
adjectivecomparable
Full of lasting anger or resentment because you feel you were treated unfairly.
Grammar: Can follow a linking verb (she felt bitter) or come before a noun (a bitter rival); often used with about or towards.
Patterns
- bitter about something
- bitter towards someone
He is still bitter about losing his job after twenty years.
She spoke in a bitter voice about her former partner.
Years of unfair treatment had left him bitter towards the company.
adjectivebefore a noun
Causing deep pain or sorrow, and hard to accept.
Grammar: Appears before nouns like disappointment, truth, or lesson.
Patterns
- a bitter disappointment
- a bitter truth
Losing the final in the last minute was a bitter disappointment.
The bitter truth is that the shop cannot stay open.
They learned a bitter lesson about trusting strangers online.
adjectivebefore a noun
Extremely cold and harsh, especially of wind or weather.
Grammar: Most common before wind, cold, or winter.
Patterns
- a bitter wind
- bitter cold
A bitter wind blew across the open field.
Walkers were warned about bitter cold at the summit.
It was a bitter winter, and the river froze solid.
adjectivebefore a noun
Marked by fierce hostility or intense, unpleasant conflict.
Grammar: Used before nouns such as battle, dispute, rivalry, or divorce.
Patterns
- a bitter dispute
- a bitter rivalry
The two brothers were locked in a bitter dispute over the farm.
A bitter rivalry has existed between the teams for decades.
The court case ended in a bitter divorce.
Word forms
| comparative | bitterer |
|---|---|
| superlative | bitterest |
Common combinations
- bitter taste
- A bitter taste remained in my mouth after the tablet.
- bitter disappointment
- The cancellation was a bitter disappointment for the fans.
- bitter rivalry
- The neighboring towns share a bitter rivalry.
- bitter end
- She stayed until the bitter end of the long meeting.
- bitter wind
- We walked home against a bitter wind.
- bitterly cold
- The morning was bitterly cold.
Synonyms and how they differ
- resentful
- Resentful focuses on anger about a specific unfair treatment, while bitter suggests the feeling has hardened over time.
- sour
- Sour for taste means acidic like lemon, whereas bitter is sharp and harsh, as in coffee.
- acrid
- Acrid describes sharp, burning smells or tastes, and is stronger and more unpleasant than bitter.
- biting
- Biting describes cold wind that seems to cut the skin, and is a little more vivid than bitter.
Opposites
Word family
- bitterly adverb
- in a bitter way, often showing strong feeling
- bitterness noun
- the quality of being bitter
- embitter verb
- to make someone feel resentful
- bitters noun
- a bitter-flavored liquid added to drinks
- bittersweet adjective
- both sweet and sad or bitter at once
Commonly confused: bitter or better? bitter or sour?
bitter vs better
Better means of higher quality, and is pronounced with a short e; bitter has an i and describes taste or resentment.
bitter vs sour
Sour means acidic like vinegar or lemon juice, while bitter is the harsh taste of coffee or dark greens.
Practice
After the unfair decision, Tom remained ___ about the whole affair for years.
Choose one answer.
Bitter about something means feeling lasting resentment. Bittersweet mixes happiness and sadness and does not fit anger, and better is a different word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bitter”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.