embitter
Americanverb
-
to make (a person) resentful or bitter
-
to aggravate (an already hostile feeling, difficult situation, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
embittersimple
-
embitterssimple
-
have embitteredperfect
-
has embitteredperfect
-
am embitteringprogressive
-
are embitteringprogressive
-
is embitteringprogressive
-
have been embitteringperfect progressive
-
has been embitteringperfect progressive
Past
-
embitteredsimple
-
had embitteredperfect
-
was embitteringprogressive
-
were embitteringprogressive
-
had been embitteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of embitter
Explanation
To embitter to make someone bitter, resentful, or angry. People are embittered by disappointing and unfair experiences. Life is often difficult, painful, and unfair. When bad things happen, they can embitter people. When you're embittered, your mood and attitude have soured. Losing your job unfairly will embitter you. Getting insulted will embitter you. Facing discrimination will embitter you. Some people are more prone to being embittered than others, but everyone gets embittered sometimes. When something or someone embitters you, you feel resentful and long for revenge.
Vocabulary lists containing embitter
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: en-, em-
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Novel Study: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Chapters 1–6
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Devil in the White City
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
The plan, if it passes in its original form, could lead to legal measures that would embitter the everyday lives of the migrants and, critics say, make their stay in Israel intolerable.
From Seattle Times • May 4, 2023
As a narrator, Won maintains a weary earnestness, acknowledging the bitterness of his situation without allowing it to embitter him.
From Washington Post • Jan. 11, 2023
The unhappy decline that constituted the second act was, in Pastor’s view, an uncannily precise preview of the economic, social and political discontents that now embitter our national politics.
From New York Times • Apr. 23, 2018
Hardship did not embitter Lucy Larcom, and she never lost her love of books and gift for poetry.
From Textbooks • Jan. 18, 2018
I may add that no nation can afford to embitter its own writers against itself by producing in their minds a sense of injustice.
From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 3, October, 1851 by Various
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.
