bitterness

Definition

The quality of having a bitter taste.

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

• "the bitterness of his words"
• "She kept her bitterness about her mistreatment for the rest of her life."
• "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."

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