Dictionary

imbitter en · VERB

Pronunciation

• [-ɾəɹ] (General-American)
• /əmˈbɪtəɹ/ (General-American)
• /ɪmˈbɪtə/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From im- + bitter; see further at embitter.

Meanings

1. (alt-of, obsolete) Obsolete spelling of embitter.
   alt of embitter
   • Sometimes it [pride] ſtirreth vp men, and imboldeneth them to offer vvrongs: ſometimes imbittereth men; and maketh them vvayvvard againſt the right: […] 1608, John Dod, Robert Cleaver, “Vers[e] 10. Through mere pride doth man make contentions; but with the well aduised is wisedome.”, in A Plaine and Familiar Exposition of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Chapters of the Prouerbs of Salomon, London: […] R. B[radock] for Roger Iackson, […], →OCLC, page 26:
   • [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; […] 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, pages 54–55:
   • The superstition of the people was not imbittered by any mixture of theological rancor; nor was it confined by the chains of any speculative system. 1776, Edward Gibbon, chapter II, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:
   • 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. 1713 April 12 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “Wednesday, April 1. 1713.”, in The Guardian, number 18, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […]; and sold by A. Baldwin […], →OCLC, page [1], column 1:
   • Naturally the Tennesseeans, conscious that they had not wronged the Indians, and had scrupulously observed the treaty, grew imbittered over, the wanton Indian outrages. 1889, Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, Volume Four:
   • It is with extreme reluctance that I dwell upon the appalling scene which ensued; a scene which, with its minutest details, no after events have been able to efface in the slightest degree from my memory, and whose stern recollection will imbitter every future moment of my existence. 1838, [Edgar Allan Poe], chapter XII, in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 107:
   • He imbitters not a diſtaſtfull meſſage to a forrein Prince by his indiſcretion in delivering it. 1642, Thomas Fuller, “The Good Herald”, in The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC, book II, paragraph 2, page 142:

Forms

Deriveds

imbitterment · imbitterer