Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

bilious

/ˈbɪl.jəs/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 2.03 in modern English

Syllables: bil-ious
IPA: /ˈbɪl.jəs/

9

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

3

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Of or pertaining to something containing or consisting of bile.

adj

Resembling bile, especially in color.

adj

Suffering from real or supposed liver disorder, especially excessive secretions of bile.

adj

Peevishly ill-humored, irritable or bad tempered; irascible.

Example Sentences

"Does money fail?—come to my mint—coin paper, Till gold be at a discount, and ashamed To show his bilious face, go purge himself, In emulation of her vestal whiteness."
"His complexion was pale, not of that deadly pallor which is a kind of neutral beauty, but of a bilious, yellow hue; his colorless hair was short and scarcely extended beyond the circle formed by the hat around his head, and his light blue eyes seemed destitute of any expression."
"The business-center of Schoenstrom took up one side of one block, facing the railroad. It was a row of one-story shops covered with galvanized iron, or with clapboards painted red and bilious yellow."
"A beautiful girl once told me of a recurring nightmare in which she lay in the center of a large dark room and felt her face expand until it filled the whole room, becoming a formless mass while her eyes ran in bilious jelly up the chimney."
"Perry tells me that Mr. Cole never touches malt liquor. You would not think it to look at him, but he is bilious—Mr. Cole is very bilious."
"The glorified spirit of a great statesman and philosopher dawdling, like a bilious old Nabob at a watering-place, over quarterly reviews and novels—dropping in to pay long calls—making excursions in search of the picturesque!"

Etymology

From French bilieux, from Latin bīliōsus (“full of bile”), from bīlis (“bile”) + -ōsus (“full of”).

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈbɪl.jəs/
British English: /ˈbɪl.i.əs/

Inflected Forms

more bilious (comparative) most bilious (superlative)

Derived Forms

antibilious biliously biliousness nonbilious sanguineobilious unbilious

Phrases

bilious vomiting syndrome nervo-bilious

Frequently Paired Words

atrabilious bile

Synonyms

choleric irascible peevish testy cranky splenetic atrabilious dyspeptic liverish

Antonyms

pleasant amiable good-natured genial even-tempered

Rhymes With

supercilious punctilious ileus pileus pileous reptilious

Questions

How do you pronounce bilious?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈbɪl.jəs/.
What does bilious mean?: Of or pertaining to something containing or consisting of bile.
Where does bilious come from?: From French bilieux, from Latin bīliōsus (“full of bile”), from bīlis (“bile”) + -ōsus (“full of”).

How to pronounce bilious

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “bilious”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈbɪl.jəs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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