Word.ws English Dictionary

bitter-sweet

bitter-sweet is the alternative form of bittersweet.

Meaning of bittersweet

Adjective

bittersweet (comparative more bittersweet, superlative most bittersweet)

  1. Both bitter and sweet.
    • bittersweet chocolate
  2. (figuratively) Expressing contrasting emotions of pain and pleasure.
    • The break-up was very bittersweet; they both hurt to end it, but were glad it was over.
  3. Of bittersweet color (see the noun section, below).

See all 9 meanings of bittersweet

Forms of bitter-sweet

comparativemore bitter-sweet
superlativemost bitter-sweet

Words formed from bitter-sweet

  • bitter-sweet nightshade

Questions about bitter-sweet

What is bitter-sweet the alternative form of?
Bitter-sweet is the alternative form of bittersweet.

Words near bitter-sweet in the dictionary

  1. bitter-cress
  2. bitter-ender
  3. bitter-enders
  4. bitter-root
  5. bitter-roots
  6. bitter-sweet
  7. bitterant
  8. bitterants
  9. bitterbark
  10. bitterbarks
  11. bitterberry

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bitter-sweet (page history and authors); bittersweet (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “bitter-sweet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bitter-sweet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.