bitterness

English

Etymology

From Middle English bitternesse, biternesse, from Old English biternes (“bitterness; grief”), equivalent to bitter +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbɪtənəs/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)

Noun

bitterness (countable and uncountable, plural bitternesses)

  1. The quality of having a bitter taste.
  2. The quality of feeling bitter; acrimony, resentment; the quality of exhibiting such feelings.
    the bitterness of his words
    She kept her bitterness about her mistreatment for the rest of her life.
    • 2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:
      She suspected that during the summer her father had mentioned Brian’s windfall to Billy and that father and son had then traded snidenesses and bitternesses about the W—— Corporation and bourgeois Robin and leisure-class Brian.
    • 2011 April 23, Marina Hyde, The Guardian:
      Speaking of the guest list, though, it is most disappointing to find some of the third tier European princelings unable to hide their bitterness at being NFI.
  3. The quality of eliciting a bitter, humiliating or harsh feeling.
    Nothing could assuage the bitterness of their defeat.
  4. Harsh cold.
    The bitterness of the winter caught us all by surprise.

Synonyms

Translations

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