BITTER
| Pronunciation (US): |  |
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. one of the four basic taste sensations; sharp and disagreeable; like the taste of quinine
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)
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; GB; 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)
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)
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)
• BITTER (adjective)
Meaning:
Marked by strong resentment or cynicism
Synonyms:
acrimonious; bitter
Context examples:
an acrimonious dispute / bitter about the divorce
Similar:
resentful (full of or marked by resentment or indignant ill will)
Meaning:
Very difficult to accept or bear
Context examples:
the bitter truth / a bitter sorrow
Similar:
intolerable; unbearable; unendurable (incapable of being put up with)
Meaning:
Harsh or corrosive in tone
Synonyms:
vitriolic; acid; blistering; caustic; venomous; sulphurous; sulfurous; acrid; acerbic; acerb; bitter; virulent
Context examples:
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
Similar:
unpleasant (disagreeable to the senses, to the mind, or feelings)
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)
Meaning:
Proceeding from or exhibiting great hostility or animosity
Context examples:
a bitter struggle / bitter enemies
Similar:
hostile (characterized by enmity or ill will)
Meaning:
One of the four basic taste sensations; sharp and disagreeable; like the taste of quinine
Similar:
tasty (pleasing to the sense of taste)
Meaning:
Causing a sharply painful or stinging sensation; used especially of cold
Synonyms:
biting; bitter
Context examples:
bitter cold / a biting wind
Similar:
painful (causing physical or psychological pain)
• BITTER (verb)
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
• BITTER (adverb)
Meaning:
Extremely and sharply
Synonyms:
bitingly; bitter; piercingly; bitterly
Context examples:
it was bitterly cold / bitter cold
