bitter
Americanadjective
-
having a harsh, disagreeably acrid taste, like that of aspirin, quinine, wormwood, or aloes.
- Synonyms:
- distasteful, unpalatable, acrid
-
producing one of the four basic taste sensations; not sour, sweet, or salt.
-
hard to bear; grievous; distressful.
a bitter sorrow.
-
causing pain; piercing; stinging.
a bitter chill.
-
characterized by intense antagonism or hostility.
bitter hatred.
- Synonyms:
- relentless, ruthless, cruel, fierce
-
hard to admit or accept.
a bitter lesson.
-
resentful or cynical.
bitter words.
- Synonyms:
- scornful, sardonic, biting, caustic, acrimonious
noun
-
that which is bitter; bitterness.
Learn to take the bitter with the sweet.
-
British. a very dry ale having a strong taste of hops.
verb (used with object)
adverb
adjective
-
having or denoting an unpalatable harsh taste, as the peel of an orange or coffee dregs Compare sour
-
showing or caused by strong unrelenting hostility or resentment
he was still bitter about the divorce
-
difficult or unpleasant to accept or admit
a bitter blow
-
cutting; sarcastic
bitter words
-
bitingly cold
a bitter night
adverb
noun
-
a thing that is bitter
-
beer with a high hop content, with a slightly bitter taste
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
bitternessnoun
-
bitterishadjective
-
nonbitteradjective
-
overbitteradjective
-
unbitteradjective
-
bitterlyadverb
-
overbitterlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of bitter
First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English biter; cognate with German bitter, Old Norse bitr, Gothic baitrs; akin to bite
Explanation
If you usually drink your coffee with lots of cream and sugar in it, you might be surprised at how bitter plain black coffee can taste. Bitter means "having a sharp or harsh flavor." Bitter describes a particular pungent taste, like the sharpness of very dark chocolate (which is sometimes called bittersweet for its mixture of the two flavors). If you imagine taking that bitter taste on your tongue and turning it into an emotion, you've got another meaning of bitter: a resentful, angry feeling. And if you turn that bitter flavor into a physical feeling, you've got an adjective that describes a sharp, unpleasant sensation, like a cold, bitter wind.
Vocabulary lists containing bitter
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 3
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ACT Reading Test: Words to Capture Tone, List 1
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Archer’s main competitor in the air taxi space is Joby, a startup based in Santa Cruz that has been entangled in a bitter legal battle with Archer for more than a year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
It’s deliciously nutty and salty, courtesy of the peanut butter, and slightly bitter and acidic, thanks to the dark chocolate.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
But those are made with Prosecco, while Chet’s Golden Hour spritz uses gin and bitter liqueur.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
A brief but bitter war arose between Britain and Argentina over the territory in 1982.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Along a front of some 250 miles, German soldiers did an about-face and started to retrace their steps over ground won in bitter fighting during the previous two weeks.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Caporale offers one recipe: “A green tea Old Fashioned, sweetened with honey and flavored with lemon bitters, is spectacular.”
From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2026
Other ways in which we “close the loop” are through syrups, infusions, shrubs, tinctures and bitters.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2024
You can even embrace your inner mixologist by investing in a few non-alcoholic bitters.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
They also offer rosé and a crisp Sauvignon Blanc by the glass, but the frozen concoction with bitters was the perfect antidote for Coachella’s striking afternoon sun.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
Some chocolate had the bitters and you added sugar.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
His face is bitterer than the cold as Miranda asks him how his apartment hunt is going.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2023
That’s a bitter joke, but no bitterer than the tone of the English master’s sweeping historical drama about the slaughter of a group of peaceful labor organizers at a mass protest in 1819.
From Slate ● Dec. 6, 2019
“Information warfare will grow far bitterer, and that’s something we will have to live with during the upcoming period.”
From Washington Times ● Mar. 5, 2018
It’s hard to say which of them produced the bitterer barbs.
From Time ● Sep. 24, 2015
But there is one injustice bitterer even than that—to be denied the right to work according to one’s ability.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
Some of the regime’s bitterest enemies in Miami became its de facto financial supporters as they sent their grandparents money without which they couldn’t survive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
To forget the bitterest chapters of our personal histories can be overwhelmingly tempting when there’s so much to deal with, right in front of us.
From Salon ● May 25, 2026
“New life tended to spring from bitterest ash,” she writes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2025
In 2022 the two men ran one of the bitterest Senate races in recent memory.
From Slate ● Nov. 22, 2024
February passed, the bitterest cold of the year coming as usual in that month.
From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
