BITTER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does bitter mean? 

• BITTER (noun)
  The noun BITTER has 3 senses:

1. English term for a dry sharp-tasting ale with strong flavor of hops (usually on draft)

2. the taste experience when quinine or coffee is taken into the mouth

3. the property of having a harsh unpleasant taste

  Familiarity information: BITTER used as a noun is uncommon.

• BITTER (adjective)
  The adjective BITTER has 7 senses:

1. marked by strong resentment or cynicism

2. very difficult to accept or bear

3. harsh or corrosive in tone

4. expressive of severe grief or regret

5. proceeding from or exhibiting great hostility or animosity

6. causing a sharp and acrid taste experience

7. causing a sharply painful or stinging sensation; used especially of cold

  Familiarity information: BITTER used as an adjective is common.

• BITTER (verb)
  The verb BITTER has 1 sense:

1. make bitter

  Familiarity information: BITTER used as a verb is very rare.

• BITTER (adverb)
  The adverb BITTER has 1 sense:

1. extremely and sharply

  Familiarity information: BITTER used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BITTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

English term for a dry sharp-tasting ale with strong flavor of hops (usually on draft)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("bitter" is a kind of...):

ale (a general name for beer made with a top fermenting yeast; in some of the United States an ale is (by law) a brew of more than 4% alcohol by volume)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Derivation:

bitter (causing a sharp and acrid taste experience)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The taste experience when quinine or coffee is taken into the mouth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

bitter; bitterness

Hypernyms ("bitter" is a kind of...):

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)

Derivation:

bitter (causing a sharp and acrid taste experience)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The property of having a harsh unpleasant taste

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

bitter; bitterness

Hypernyms ("bitter" is a kind of...):

taste property (a property appreciated via the sense of taste)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bitter"):

acerbity (a sharp bitterness)

acridity; acridness (extreme bitterness)

Derivation:

bitter (make bitter)

bitter (causing a sharp and acrid taste experience)

• BITTER (adjective)

Comparative: bitterer   
Superlative: bitterest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by strong resentment or cynicism

Synonyms:

acrimonious; bitter

Context example:

bitter about the divorce

Similar:

resentful (full of or marked by resentment or indignant ill will)

Derivation:

bitterness (a rough and bitter manner)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Very difficult to accept or bear

Context example:

a bitter sorrow

Similar:

intolerable; unbearable; unendurable (incapable of being tolerated or endured)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Harsh or corrosive in tone

Synonyms:

acerb; acerbic; acid; acrid; bitter; blistering; caustic; sulfurous; sulphurous; virulent; vitriolic

Context example:

a vitriolic critique

Similar:

unpleasant (offensive or disagreeable; causing discomfort or unhappiness)

Derivation:

bitterness (a rough and bitter manner)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Expressive of severe grief or regret

Context example:

shed bitter tears

Similar:

sorrowful (experiencing or marked by or expressing sorrow especially that associated with irreparable loss)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Proceeding from or exhibiting great hostility or animosity

Context example:

bitter enemies

Similar:

hostile (characterized by enmity or ill will)

Derivation:

bitterness (a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Causing a sharp and acrid taste experience

Context example:

quinine is bitter

Similar:

tasty (pleasing to the sense of taste)

Derivation:

bitter (the property of having a harsh unpleasant taste)

bitter (the taste experience when quinine or coffee is taken into the mouth)

bitter (English term for a dry sharp-tasting ale with strong flavor of hops (usually on draft))

Sense 7

Meaning:

Causing a sharply painful or stinging sensation; used especially of cold

Synonyms:

biting; bitter

Context example:

a biting wind

Similar:

painful (causing physical or psychological pain)

• BITTER (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make bitter

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "bitter" is one way to...):

change taste (alter the flavor of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

bitter (the property of having a harsh unpleasant taste)

• BITTER (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Extremely and sharply

Synonyms:

bitingly; bitter; bitterly; piercingly

Context example:

bitter cold

 Context examples 

“It strikes me, Williamson, there isn’t very much that we can tell this gentleman,” cried Carruthers, with a bitter laugh.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in me seemed to come uppermost.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But one regret she voiced in the whole letter, and it was a bitter one to Martin.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“This won’t taste bitter,” said he, “but I will just finish the jacket before I take a bite.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The lady’s, on the other hand, were most bitter, and when she raised her voice could be plainly heard. ‘You coward!’ she repeated over and over again. ‘What can be done now?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was hard and bitter work.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I remember how on our wedding-day he said: "Unless some solemn duty come upon me to go back to the bitter hours, asleep or awake, mad or sane."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

His small eyes burned with a vicious and bitter light, while he roared with fury at sight of Buck.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

His free hand went to my throat, and in that moment I knew the bitterest foretaste of death earned by one’s own idiocy.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Surely then it would be bitter shame to me, and also to you, since my fame is yours, that I should now hold back if a man's work is to be done.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)