Definitions for bitter
ˈbɪt ərbit·ter

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:4.0 / 2 votes

1. bitternoun

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

2. bitter, bitternessnoun

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

3. bitterness, bitteradjective

   the property of having a harsh unpleasant taste

4. acrimonious, bitteradjective

   marked by strong resentment or cynicism

   "an acrimonious dispute"; "bitter about the divorce"

5. bitteradjective

   very difficult to accept or bear

   "the bitter truth"; "a bitter sorrow"

6. acerb, acerbic, acid, acrid, bitter, blistering, caustic, sulfurous, sulphurous, virulent, vitriolicadjective

   harsh or corrosive in tone

   "an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose"; "a barrage of acid comments"; "her acrid remarks make her many enemies"; "bitter words"; "blistering criticism"; "caustic jokes about political assassination, talk-show hosts and medical ethics"; "a sulfurous denunciation"; "a vitriolic critique"

7. bitteradjective

   expressive of severe grief or regret

   "shed bitter tears"

8. bitteradjective

   proceeding from or exhibiting great hostility or animosity

   "a bitter struggle"; "bitter enemies"

9. bitteradjective

   causing a sharp and acrid taste experience;"quinine is bitter"

10. biting, bitterverb

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

    "bitter cold"; "a biting wind"

11. bitteradverb

    make bitter

12. piercingly, bitterly, bitingly, bitteradverb

    extremely and sharply

    "it was bitterly cold"; "bitter cold"

WiktionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

1. bitternoun

   A liquid or powder, made from bitter herbs, used in mixed drinks or as a tonic.

2. bitternoun

   A type of beer heavily flavored with hops.

3. bitternoun

   A turn of a cable about the bitts.

4. bitteradjective

   Having an acrid taste (usually from a basic substance)

   The coffee was bitter.

5. bitteradjective

   Harsh, piercing or stinging

6. bitteradjective

   Hateful or hostile

   They're bitter enemies.

7. bitteradjective

   Cynical and resentful

   I've been bitter ever since that defeat.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. BITTERadjective

   Etymology: biter, Saxon.

   1. Having a hot, acrid, biting taste, like wormwood.

   Bitter things are apt rather to kill than engender putrefaction. Francis Bacon, Nat. Hist. №. 696.

   Though a man in a fever should, from sugar, have a bitter taste, which, at another time, produces a sweet one; yet the idea of bitter in that man’s mind, would be as clear and distinct from the idea of sweet, as if he had tasted only gall. John Locke.

   2. Sharp; cruel; severe.

   Friends now fast sworn,
   Unseparable, shall within this hour,
   On a dissension of a doit, break out
   To bitterest enmity. William Shakespeare, Coriolanus.

   Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Coloss. iii. 19.

   The word of God, instead of a bitter, teaches us a charitable zeal. Thomas Sprat.

   3. Calamitous; miserable.

   Noble friends and fellows, whom to leave
   Is only bitter to him, only dying;
   Go with me, like good angels, to my end. William Shakespeare, H. VIII.

   A dire induction am I witness to;
   And will to France, hoping, the consequence
   Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical. William Shakespeare, Rich. III.

   Tell him, that if I bear my bitter fate,
   ’Tis to behold his vengeance for my son. John Dryden, Æneis.

   4. Painful; inclement.

   And shun the bitter consequence: for know,
   The day thou eat’st thereof, my sole command
   Transgrest, inevitably thou shalt die. Paradise Lost, b. viii.

   The fowl the borders fly,
   And shun the bitter blast, and wheel about the sky. Dryden.

   5. Sharp; reproachful; satirical.

   Go with me,
   And, in the breath of bitter words, let’s smother
   My damned son. William Shakespeare, Richard III.

   6. Mournful; afflicted.

   Wherefore is light given unto him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul? Job, iii. 20.

   7. In any manner, unpleasing or hurtful.

   Bitter is an equivocal word; there is bitter wormwood, there are bitter words, there are bitter enemies, and a bitter cold morning. Isaac Watts, Logick.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. bitter

   Bitter refers to a strong, sharp, often unpleasant taste or sensation that is the opposite of sweet. It can also describe emotional pain, resentment, or harshness. Bitter is used to describe various types of foods, beverages, medicines, emotions and experiences.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Bitternoun

   aA turn of the cable which is round the bitts

2. Bitterverb

   having a peculiar, acrid, biting taste, like that of wormwood or an infusion of hops; as, a bitter medicine; bitter as aloes

3. Bitterverb

   causing pain or smart; piercing; painful; sharp; severe; as, a bitter cold day

4. Bitterverb

   causing, or fitted to cause, pain or distress to the mind; calamitous; poignant

5. Bitterverb

   characterized by sharpness, severity, or cruelty; harsh; stern; virulent; as, bitter reproach

6. Bitterverb

   mournful; sad; distressing; painful; pitiable

7. Bitternoun

   any substance that is bitter. See Bitters

8. Bitterverb

   to make bitter

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Bitter

   Bitter is an English term for pale ale. Bitters vary in colour from gold to dark amber and in strength from 3% to 7% alcohol by volume.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Bitter

   bit′ėr, adj. biting or acrid to the taste: sharp: painful.—n. any substance having a bitter taste.—adj. Bitt′erish.—adv. Bitt′erly.—n. Bitt′erness.—n.pl. Bitt′ers, a liquid prepared from bitter herbs or roots, and used as a stomachic.—n. Bitt′er-sweet, the Woody Nightshade, a slender, climbing hedge-plant, having red poisonous berries, said to be named from its root, when chewed, having first a bitter, then a sweet taste: (Shak.) an apple that has a compound taste of sweet and bitter: a mixture of sweet and bitter. [A.S. bítan, to bite.]

2. Bitter

   (Spens.), used for Bittern.

Dictionary of Nautical TermsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. bitter

   Any turn of a cable about the bitts is called a bitter. Hence a ship is "brought up to a bitter" when the cable is allowed to run out to that stop.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. BITTER

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Bitter is ranked #11942 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Bitter surname appeared 2,618 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 would have the surname Bitter.
   
   91.1% or 2,387 total occurrences were White.
   2.4% or 65 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
   2.1% or 56 total occurrences were Black.
   1.8% or 47 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
   1.6% or 43 total occurrences were of two or more races.
   0.7% or 20 total occurrences were Asian.

Matched Categories

1. • Ale

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'bitter' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3873

2. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'bitter' in Adjectives Frequency: #518

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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How to pronounce bitter?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say bitter in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of bitter in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of bitter in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of bitter in a Sentence

1. Hossein Rassam:

   This was a bitter defeat for Ayatollah Rafsanjani. It demonstrated the biting reality that Rafsanjani is no longer a pillar of the Islamic Republic to powerful hardliners, even though he is still very influential.

2. Marilyn Cornelis:

   We found coffee drinkers with the genetic variant that reflects a faster metabolism of caffeine prefer bitter, black coffee, we also found the same genetic variant in people who prefer plain tea over sweetened, and bitter, dark chocolate over the more mellow milk chocolate.

3. Peter Buffett:

   We never thought about an inheritance. We never assumed we would be getting anything at any time and we weren't bitter or thinking that we should for some reason, we just grew up in a house where you work hard and you make your way in life and hopefully you have a well-lived life based on all sorts of criteria.

4. Detlev Spangenberg:

   The pile of bodies in Meissen is bitter medicine against ignorance. we’ve had a lockdown since November and the numbers are not going down. It’s nothing to do with the AfD.

5. Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, 1973:

   Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=bitter
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bitter
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=bitter
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bitter
6. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=bitter
7. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=bitter
8. ^ Dictionary of Nautical Terms
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26000/pg26000-images.html#:~:text=bitter
9. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html
10. ^ Usage in printed sources
    https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bitter