BITTERNESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does bitterness mean? 

• BITTERNESS (noun)
  The noun BITTERNESS has 4 senses:

1. a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will

2. a rough and bitter manner

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

4. the property of having a harsh unpleasant taste

  Familiarity information: BITTERNESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BITTERNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

bitterness; gall; rancor; rancour; resentment

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

enmity; hostility; ill will (the feeling of a hostile person)

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

heartburning (intense resentment)

huffishness; sulkiness (a feeling of sulky resentment)

grievance; grudge; score (a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation)

enviousness; envy (a feeling of grudging admiration and desire to have something that is possessed by another)

Derivation:

bitter (proceeding from or exhibiting great hostility or animosity)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A rough and bitter manner

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

acerbity; acrimony; bitterness; jaundice; tartness; thorniness

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

disagreeableness (an ill-tempered and offensive disposition)

Derivation:

bitter (marked by strong resentment or cynicism)

bitter (harsh or corrosive in tone)

Sense 3

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 ("bitterness" 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)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The property of having a harsh unpleasant taste

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

bitter; bitterness

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

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

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

acerbity (a sharp bitterness)

acridity; acridness (extreme bitterness)

 Context examples 

"Successfully, I hope?" said Jo, for the bitterness of disappointment was in that short reply of his.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

So White Fang could only eat his heart in bitterness and develop a hatred and malice commensurate with the ferocity and indomitability of his nature.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

She was therefore obliged to seek another branch of the subject, and related, with much bitterness of spirit and some exaggeration, the shocking rudeness of Mr. Darcy.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

“Why do you not write them yourself?” I said, with some bitterness.

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

He read the thought upon my features, and his smile had a tinge of bitterness.

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

“Are you, indeed, now?” cried Lestrade with some bitterness.

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

It was with some bitterness in my heart that I answered that I had not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity of sending letters to anybody.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

His sadness was not untouched with bitterness as he thought it over.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

All day he had been querulous in manner, and now some remark of Lord John's as to what we should do on the morrow brought all his bitterness to a head.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)