Meaning & use
bittersweet feeling
Last updated
Meaning
phrasecountable
An emotion that mixes pleasure or happiness with sadness or regret at the same time.
Grammar: Countable: say 'a bittersweet feeling' or 'bittersweet feelings'.
Patterns
- a bittersweet feeling about something
- have a bittersweet feeling
- a bittersweet feeling of something
Watching her graduate gave me a bittersweet feeling: pride mixed with the sadness of her leaving home.
There was a bittersweet feeling in the room when the team celebrated their win without their injured captain.
He described the last day of school as a bittersweet feeling he would never forget.
Common combinations
- a bittersweet feeling
- Moving to a new city brought a bittersweet feeling.
- have a bittersweet feeling
- I have a bittersweet feeling about saying goodbye.
- a bittersweet feeling about something
- She had a bittersweet feeling about selling the family house.
- leave someone with a bittersweet feeling
- The reunion left me with a bittersweet feeling.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mixed feelings
- Mixed feelings means you are not sure whether you are happy or sad; a bittersweet feeling is specifically happy and sad at the same time.
- poignant
- Poignant describes something that makes you feel sad in a touching way, but it does not always include happiness.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'bittersweet feeling' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A bittersweet feeling is an emotion a person has, so 'felt a bittersweet feeling' fits. The other options use it as a physical quality of food, as a verb, or with wrong grammar.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bittersweet feeling”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.