Synonyms for bitterness
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Rancor — the quality of feeling bitter; acrimony, resentment; the quality of exhibiting such feelings
rancor US, rancour UK, acrimony, resentment, gall, hatred, animosity, ill-will, bile, malice, enmity, bad blood, venom, feud, spite, distress, virulence, edge, spleen, rankling, grudge, malignity
2. Tartness
tartness, sourness, astringency, harshness, poignancy, acerbity, severity, keenness, jaundice, asperity formal, thorniness, sharpness, causticity
3. Acridity
Definitions
- n. 1
The quality of feeling bitter; acrimony, resentment; the quality of exhibiting such feelings.
the bitterness of his words
- n. 2
The quality of having a bitter taste.
- n. 3
The quality of eliciting a bitter, humiliating or harsh feeling.
Nothing could assuage the bitterness of their defeat.
- n. 4
Harsh cold.
The bitterness of the winter caught us all by surprise.
Forms
- Plural
- bitternesses → rancors, acrimonies, resentments, galls…
Choose the right word
Bitterness is a resentful feeling arising from a belief that one has been wronged; acrimony is a kindred feeling, but deeper and more persistent, and may arise from the crossing of one's wishes or plans by another, where no injustice or wrong is felt.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- hatred Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world.
- resentment What's the reason for your resentment towards me?
- gall I'm surprised that Tom had the gall to do that.
- sourness Just looking at a lemon makes one feel the sourness in one's mouth.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| bitterness | steady | |
| hatred | rising | |
| resentment | rising | |
| gall | falling | |
| acrimony | rising | |
| sourness | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- woe1
- 4 letters
- pain1, edge1, feud1, gall1, bile1
- 5 letters
- grief1, spite1, venom2, agony3
- 6 letters
- regret2, bitter2, hatred2, misery3, sorrow2, malice2, grudge1, spleen1, enmity3, rancor2
- 7 letters
- sadness2, anguish2, rancour
- 8 letters
- distress2, severity4, jaundice2, wormwood2, acrimony4, keenness, sourness, tartness2, asperity4, rankling2, acerbity, acridity
- 9 letters
- animosity5, heartache2, sharpness2, virulence3, harshness2, poignancy3, malignity, acridness
- 10 letters
- resentment3, affliction3, thorniness, causticity
- 11 letters
- astringency, acerbicness
- 12 letters
- wretchedness
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (venom2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- amertume
- Español
- amargura
- Deutsch
- Bitterkeit
- Català
- amargor