embitter
/əmˈbɪtəɹ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.19 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To cause (a positive quality such as happiness, or a thing such as an activity or one's life) to become less good or pleasurable; also, to make (a negative quality, or thing such as a disagreement) worse or more unpleasant.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "He imbitters not a diſtaſtfull meſſage to a forrein Prince by his indiſcretion in delivering it."
- "[I]t is our fond conceits, our froward humors, our perverse behaviors, which do create the trouble, which seemeth adherent to any condition, and embittereth every state; which from any slight occasion doth create vexation, and turneth every event into disaster."
- "The Proſpect of Death is ſo gloomy and diſmal, that if it vvere conſtantly before our Eyes, it vvould imbitter all the Svveets of Life."
- "Their pleaſures, poor as they vvere, could not be preſerved pure, but vvere embittered by petty competitions and vvorthleſs emulation."
- "A juſt, but melancholy reflection, embittered, hovvever, the nobleſt of human enjoyments."
- "[T]hat monſtrous fiction, vvhich, by inſpiring falſe ideas and vain expectations into men deſtined to travel in the obſcure vvalk of laborious life, ſerves only to aggravate and imbitter that real inequality, vvhich it never can remove; […]"
Etymology
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əmˈbɪtəɹ/
- British English: /ɪmˈbɪtə/
Usage
Inflected Forms
embitters (present, singular)
embittering (participle, present)
embittered (participle, past)
embittered (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
embittered (first person, past)
embitterest (archaic, present)
embittered (past, second person)
embitteredst (archaic, past)
embittereth (archaic, present)
embittered (past, singular)