BITTERNESS • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Bitterness

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/bˈɪtərnəs/ Listen

noun

Bitterness n.

The quality or state of being bitter, sharp, or acrid, in either a literal or figurative sense; implacableness; resentfulness; severity; keenness of reproach or sarcasm; deep distress, grief, or vexation of mind. "The lip that curls with bitterness." "I will complain in the bitterness of my soul."

A state of extreme impiety or enmity to God. "Thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity."

Dangerous error, or schism, tending to draw persons to apostasy. "Looking diligently,... lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you."

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Etymology of 'Bitterness'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Bitterness" Quotes from Famous Books

... what is more, your death will not have been unmerited. To whomsoever of you, therefore, death comes in this battle, it is plain that it will be a glorious death; and life, if you conquer the enemy, will be independent and in all other respects happy; but if you are defeated,—I need mention no other bitterness than this, that all your hope will depend upon the mercy of those men yonder. And the conflict will not be evenly matched in regard to strength. For not only are the enemy greatly surpassed by us in numbers, but they will come against us ...

— History of the Wars, Books III and IV (of 8) - The Vandalic War • Procopius

... every community in which the black people are ignorant and vicious and without trained leaders among themselves they are likely at any time to come into conflict with the dominant race, and every such conflict engenders bitterness on both sides and makes just so much more difficult the final solution of the race problem. This is why Booker Washington labored so incessantly to increase the quantity of Tuskegee's output as well as to maintain the quality. He brought Tuskegee to the point where it reached through all its courses ...

— Booker T. Washington - Builder of a Civilization • Emmett J. Scott and Lyman Beecher Stowe

... an old-fashioned safe in the paneling and locked it upon the despoiling documents. Yet his heart, in spite of its dread and bitterness, was warmed by the trustfulness of ...

— The Spread Eagle and Other Stories • Gouverneur Morris

... trust was still hers, implicit and unwavering, and she knew that he would not so much as notice a single hint from Aunt Philippa, however adroitly offered. That was her one and only safeguard, and as she realized it the bitterness of her heart gave place to a sudden burst of anguished shame. What had she ever done to deserve the generous, unquestioning trust he thus reposed in her? Nothing—less ...

— The Rocks of Valpre • Ethel May Dell

... out, He dragg'd all fools, the lean and stout, The great and little, the empty and full, All too witty, and all too dull, A lash he flourish'd overhead, As though a dance of apes he led, Abusing them with bitterness, As though his wrath ...

— The Poems of Goethe • Goethe

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