bittersweet
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Pleasant and sad at the same time, like a happy memory of something lost.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bitersweetSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɪtɚswit
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
figurative
Expressing contrasting emotions of pain and pleasure.
Both bitter and sweet.
Of bittersweet color.
noun
A pinkish-orange color. Any color in between scarlet and orange.
A variety of apple with a bittersweet taste.
Bittersweet nightshade (Solanum dulcamara).
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Expressing contrasting emotions of pain and pleasure.
Used this way, bittersweet is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- semisweet , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: expressing contrasting emotions of pain and pleasure
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.