Word Direct Answers

What does "bitter" mean?

Bitter: Having a peculiar, acrid, biting taste, like that of wormwood or an infusion of hops; as, a bitter medicine; bitter as aloes.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Causing pain or smart; piercing; painful; sharp; severe; as, a bitter cold day.
  2. 3.Causing, or fitted to cause, pain or distress to the mind; calamitous; poignant. It is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God. Jer. ii.
  3. 4.4. Characterized by sharpness, severity, or cruelty; harsh; stern; virulent; as, bitter reproach. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Col. iii.
  4. 5.5. Mournful; sad; distressing; painful; pitiable. The Egyptians . . . made their lives bitter with hard bondage. Ex. i.
  5. 6.Bitter apple, Bitter cucumber, Bitter gourd. (Bot.) See Colocynth. -- Bitter cress (Bot.), a plant of the genus Cardamine, esp. C. amara. -- Bitter earth (Min.), tale earth; calcined magnesia. -- Bitter principles (Chem.), a class of substances, extracted from vegetable products, having strong bitter taste but with no sharply defined chemical characteristics. -- Bitter salt, Epsom salts;; magnesium sulphate. -- Bitter vetch (Bot.), a name given to two European leguminous herbs, Vicia Orobus and Ervum Ervilia. -- To the bitter end, to the last extremity, however calamitous.
  6. 7.Any substance that is bitter. See Bitters.
  7. 8.To make bitter. Wolcott.

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