noun
definition
(usually in the plural bitters) A liquid or powder, made from bitter herbs, used in mixed drinks or as a tonic.
definition
A type of beer heavily flavored with hops.
definition
A turn of a cable about the bitts.
verb
definition
To make bitter.
adjective
definition
Having an acrid taste (usually from a basic substance).
example
The coffee tasted bitter.
definition
Harsh, piercing or stinging.
definition
Hateful or hostile.
example
They're bitter enemies.
definition
Cynical and resentful.
example
I've been bitter ever since that defeat.
Examples of bitter in a Sentence
It was far too sweet and had a bitter aftertaste.
Gabriel asked with a bitter laugh.
His mouth twisted into a bitter smile.
It is a small bitter species common in upland pastures and fir plantations early in the season.
She was becoming a bitter old maid.
I don't know what to say, except, don't let it make you bitter about life.
His ecclesiastical legislation, too, met with bitter opposition from the Church.
The comparatively rapid growth of the tree is its great recommendation to the planter; it is best raised from acorns sown on the spot, as they are very bitter and little liable to the attacks of vermin; the tree sends down a long tap-root, which should be curtailed by cutting or early transplanting, if the young trees are to be removed.
The mountain tribes on the road (the Oxii, Pers, Huzha), accustomed to exact blackmail even from the king's train, learnt by a bitter lesson that a stronger hand had come to wield the empire.
It was a bitter mortification to Alexander, before whose imagination new vistas had just opened out eastwards, where there beckoned the unknown world of the Ganges and its splendid kings.
Count Casimir Batthyany attacked him in The Times, and Szemere, who had been prime minister under him, published a bitter criticism of his acts and character, accusing him of arrogance, cowardice and duplicity.
The bitter invectives against Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon and Egypt, put into Yahweh's mouth, are based wholly on the fact that these peoples are regarded as hostile and hurtful to Israel; Babylonia, though nowise superior to Egypt morally, is favoured and applauded because it is believed to be the instrument for securing ultimately the prosperity of Yahweh's people.
His reminder of her failure left a bitter taste to her mouth.
He urged on the bill by which Catholics were prohibited from sitting in either House of Parliament, and was bitter in his expressions of disappointment when the Commons passed a proviso excepting James, against whom the bill was especially aimed, from its operation.
I suffer for my own sins,' and he wept bitter tears.
Her smile was bitter.
Standing in the dark, wielding bitter words at each other wouldn't solve anything.
Their relationship had been a bitter lesson.
Will he not always have a bitter feeling toward me?
Xander sat, and Gerry poured them both coffee, aware of his addiction for the bitter human drink.
Bitter disappointment, however, soon overcame them, the Samaritans were strong enough to thwart and hinder their temple-building, and it seemed as though the divine favour was withdrawn.
Don't be a bitter fool.
Despite the bitter words, there was regret on Wynn's face.
Instead of the sweet taste she expected, it was bitter - like alum.
The contest was bitter, personal, factious and full of intrigue.
She didn't mean to sound so bitter.
Pastor Frecht of Nuremberg pursued him with bitter zeal.
Dr Park's sermon, "The Theology of the Intellect and that of the Feelings," delivered in 1850 before the convention of the Congregational ministers of Massachusetts, and published in the Bibliotheca sacra of July 1850, was the cause of a long and bitter controversy, metaphysical rather than doctrinal, with Charles Hodge.
The personal relations of the chancellor to Parliament were never so bitter.
In this same period there was a bitter railway war.
The boy had a bitter foretaste of life.
Surely she must feel bitter about that fact, and yet neither her voice nor her expression gave any indication that she felt animosity.
She was going to say that the bitter note in her tone was for someone who had betrayed her, but the whole world didn't need to know about their shame.
His voice still had a bitter edge, but there was a touch of musing in it now.
Jackson moved closer, inhaling deeply, while bitter tasting saliva collected in his mouth.
And he was still bitter?
The well-meaning but weak king Zedekiah he denounces with bitter scorn as a perjured traitor (xvii).
The odour is heavy and disagreeable, and the taste acrid and bitter.
The colonies were, however, to have other and bitter experiences of strikes before Labour recognized that of all means for settling industrial Australians in South America.
Being detected, he fled in order to escape punishment, but returned when Athenion (or Aristion), a bitter opponent of the Romans, had made himself tyrant of the city with the aid of Mithradates.
He was almost as bitter against Wyatt and Mason, whom he denounced as a "papist," and the violence of his conduct led Francis I.
A bitter principle to which the name of quercin has been applied by Gerber, its discoverer, has also been detected in the acorn of the common oak; the nutritive portion seems chiefly a form of starch.
Any chance of safety that lay in the friendliness of a strong party in the council was more than nullified by the bitter personal enmity of the queen, who could not forgive his share in her mother's divorce and her own disgrace.
They are all, as found in commerce, of a pale yellow-green colour; they emit a peculiar aromatic odour, and have a slightly astringent bitter taste.
There is also present a minute quantity of a bitter principle.
In the bitter religious controversies of the time Anglesey showed great moderation and toleration.
It was only after a bitter experience that the kingship was no longer regarded as a divine gift, and traditions have been revised in order to illustrate the opposition to secular authority.
It is difficult to trace the biblical history century by century as it reaches these last years of bitter conflict and of renewed prosperity.
Apart from these bitter provocations - the prohibition of the sign of the covenant and the desecration of the sacred place - the Jews had a leader who was recognized as Messiah by the rabbi Aqiba.
Although the observance of Easter was at a very early period the practice of the Christian church, a serious difference as to the day for its observance soon arose between the Christians of Jewish and those of Gentile descent, which led to a long and bitter controversy.