bitter

1. 1

   Having an acrid taste (usually from a basic substance).

   • The coffee tasted bitter.
2. 2

   Harsh, piercing, acerbic or stinging.

   • It was at the end of February, […] when the world was cold, and a bitter wind howled down the moors […].
3. 3

   Hateful or hostile.

   • They're bitter enemies.
4. 4

   Cynical and resentful.

   • I've been bitter ever since that defeat.

syn. acrid · caustic · acerb · acerbic · bitter · bittersome · sharp

ant. optimistic · sweet

1. 1

   To an intense or severe degree; bitterly.

   • A dynamic personality in the outfit, he met his death in the bitter-fought engagements in Venafro.
   • After that bitter-spoken warning, talk ceased outside […].

1. 1

   A liquid or powder, made from bitter herbs, used in mixed drinks or as a tonic.countableuncountable

   • Thus I begin: "All is not gold that glitters, "Pleasure seems sweet, but proves a glass of bitters.
2. 2

   A type of beer heavily flavored with hops.countableuncountable

3. 3

   A turn of a cable about the bitts.countableuncountable

syn. English pale ale · EPA

1. 1

   To make bitter.archaic

   • bittered with the hop

1. 1

   A hardware system whose architecture is based around units of the specified number of bits (binary digits).in-compoundsinformal

   • However, 16-bitters are far more expensive than the 8-bit variety. And, unfortunately, have only a handful of business applications software packages that really take advantage of them.