bitter

«bitter» in Mova's school dictionary: Bitter describes a strong, sharp, unpleasant taste, like… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (bitter, more bitter / bitterer, most bitter / bitterest)

meaning for a pupil

1) Bitter describes a strong, sharp, unpleasant taste, like black coffee, dark chocolate or the peel of a lemon. tree →

2) Bitter weather or wind is extremely cold. tree →

3) Bitter feelings are angry, hurt and resentful because something unfair happened. tree →

4) A bitter fight or argument is very angry and hard. tree →

5) In the UK, bitter is also a kind of beer. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons, bitter is one of the main tastes the tongue can sense: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. Many poisons and unsafe plants taste bitter, so a bitter taste can be a warning, and some cleaning products are made bitter on purpose so children spit them out. In stories bitter feelings show a character who feels wronged. Phrases: «a bitter taste», «bitter cold», «a bitter wind», «to the bitter end» (until the very end, even if it is hard), «bittersweet».

examples

• This coffee is too bitter for me. tree →
• Dark chocolate tastes a bit bitter. tree →
• A bitter wind blew across the playground. tree →
• He felt bitter about losing the race unfairly. tree →
• The two teams were bitter rivals. tree →
• Some medicine tastes bitter, so mix it with juice. tree →
• Never taste berries you find; some are bitter and poisonous. tree →
• They kept fighting to the bitter end. tree →

note

Do not confuse bitter with sour: sour is the sharp taste of lemons and vinegar (acid); bitter is the taste of coffee and tonic water. Myth: the tongue does not have separate «zones» for each taste; all parts can taste them all. Noun: «bitterness».

In the corpora

• Plants make bitter or poisonous chemicals after being attacked; a chewed tomato plant makes its leaves harder to digest.
• Chocolate starts as a bitter bean.
• Fresh cocoa beans taste bitter and smell of chocolate only after fermenting, drying and roasting.
• A ladybird's red and black are a warning: it tastes bitter and oozes yellow liquid from its knees when grabbed.
• Lick a lemon and it is sour; taste a tiny pinch of baking soda and it is bitter and soapy.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «bitter» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.