What's the difference between bitter and scathing?

Bitter


Definition:

  • (n.) AA turn of the cable which is round the bitts.
  • (v. t.) Having a peculiar, acrid, biting taste, like that of wormwood or an infusion of hops; as, a bitter medicine; bitter as aloes.
  • (v. t.) Causing pain or smart; piercing; painful; sharp; severe; as, a bitter cold day.
  • (v. t.) Causing, or fitted to cause, pain or distress to the mind; calamitous; poignant.
  • (v. t.) Characterized by sharpness, severity, or cruelty; harsh; stern; virulent; as, bitter reproach.
  • (v. t.) Mournful; sad; distressing; painful; pitiable.
  • (n.) Any substance that is bitter. See Bitters.
  • (v. t.) To make bitter.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Since the election on 7 March there has been a bitter contest for power in Iraq led by Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
  • (2) If bitter, pour it out and measure 1.4 litres of water.
  • (3) The dumplings could also be served pan-fried in browned butter and tossed with a bitter leaf salad and fresh sheep's cheese for a lighter, but equally delicious option.
  • (4) The first was a passive avoidance task in which the chicks were allowed to peck at a green training stimulus (a small light-emitting diode, LED) coated in the bitter liquid, methylanthranilate, giving rise to a strong disgust response and consequent avoidance of the green stimulus.
  • (5) In the QHCl-sucrose condition components separated by the tongue's midline and those spatially mixed produced equal amounts of bitterness suppression.
  • (6) At the interview those with conventional ileostomies expressed better preoperative comprehension of the procedure and more satisfaction about its life-saving nature; nevertheless, they experienced more negative emotional reactions, such as bitterness, after the operation.
  • (7) The higher analogues of the cycloalkane series containing alpha-aminocycloheptanecarboxylic acid methyl ester and alpha-aminocyclooctanecarboxylic acid methyl ester are bitter.
  • (8) It's almost starting to feel like we're back in the good old days of July 2005, when Paris lost out to London in the battle to stage the 2012 Olympic Games, a defeat immediately interpreted by France as a bitter blow to Gallic ideals of fair play and non-commercialism and yet another undeserved triumph for the underhand, free-market manoeuvrings of perfidious Albion.
  • (9) Hollande ended up defending until to the bitter end Jérôme Cahuzac , a finance minister responsible for fighting tax evasion who turned out to have used a secret Swiss bank account to avoid paying taxes in France.
  • (10) The sensitivity of the taste system to the various qualities was, in decreasing order, salty, sweet, sour, and bitter.
  • (11) Grace's ascent has also thrown a grenade into the bitter succession battle within Zanu-PF, which Mugabe has divided and ruled for decades.
  • (12) Denatonium, a very bitter substance, caused a rise in the intracellular calcium concentration due to release from internal stores in a small subpopulation of taste cells.
  • (13) I see myself in exactly the same situation as I saw myself yesterday, though obviously with the bitter disappointment of the failure of being knocked out.
  • (14) Stephen Joseph, its chief executive said: "This is bitter news for everyone who relies on the train to get to work, not least the large number of commuters in marginal constituencies who will be a key group at the next election."
  • (15) Lewis Wind Power, the joint venture company set up by Amec and British Energy, said it was "bitterly disappointed" by the decision.
  • (16) As night fell in Paris, despite the bitter cold, more than 5,000 people gathered under the imposing statue of Marianne, the symbol of the republic, to show their anger, grief and solidarity.
  • (17) The present alternative model of health care in China has evolved after prolonged and often bitter debate extending over twenty years.
  • (18) It is much less soluble and bitter and poses few stability problems when capsulated or tableted with aspirin.
  • (19) "They have given Mexicans the most bitter Christmas," Armando Martínez, the president of the College of Catholic Attorneys, told reporters.
  • (20) He says he is not bitter but his words are laced with hostility.

Scathing


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Scath

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Bill Gates betrayed his ailing business partner and tried to deprive him of his share of the Microsoft fortune, according to a scathing memoir from Paul Allen , the company's billionaire co-founder.
  • (2) Abramovich, as you might expect, is now scathing about Berezovsky.
  • (3) Those sorts of failures and might-have-beens have pockmarked Kerry’s record, and the rebukes he has faced have at times been scathing.
  • (4) Myners – a non-executive director of Co-op group – was also scathing in his assessment of the board members after asking them a simple retail question and likening their inability to answer to that of Paul Flowers, former chairman of the Co-op bank, who had stumbled over basic questions posed by the Treasury select committee last year.
  • (5) ( more from Dean Baker here ) Other critics of austerity were equally scathing (Paul Krugman posted once , then twice ) .
  • (6) Her attacks on the president are scathing and she sees him as a busted flush, placing herself at the heart of drives to rebuild the French right after Sarkozy "implodes" at the election.
  • (7) Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was scathing about the EU package for Greece over three years agreed last weekend by 15 eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund: "Markets have judged those arrangements to be inadequate," he said .
  • (8) An NHS trust's lack of honesty caused "unnecessary pain and further distress" to a family who had already suffered from the tragic and avoidable death of a baby boy, the health service ombudsman has said in the latest scathing verdict on the defensive culture within the health service.
  • (9) What the president thinks is it’s quite clear that new leadership with a set of skills and experiences that are unique to the challenges that OPM faces are urgently needed.” Republicans were scathing in their response to the scandal.
  • (10) Wong says he has been shocked by its silence at critical moments and is scathing overall: “It just focuses on trade deals.” And that, perhaps, is the subtext of the new documentary’s title.
  • (11) In a scathing assessment, the CQC reported it had found: “a culture of bullying and harassment” that “morale was low” and that “the decision in 2013 to remove 220 posts across the trust and down band several hundred more nursing staff has had a significant impact on morale and has stretched staffing levels in many areas” that “staffing was a key challenge across all services” poor implementation of a new IT system “had impacted on patient safety and care” and “patients were struggling to get appointments and be recognised as needing care and treatment” in A&E “there were delays in patients being assessed and in handovers taking place for patients who arrived by ambulance” and some patients were seen by the CQC to have received what it called “sub-optimal care”.
  • (12) Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who chairs the committee, was scathing about the size of the payoff.
  • (13) He also attempted to calm the waters after scathing reports about the Downing Street dinner with May that he and the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker , attended last week.
  • (14) Today staff who worked on the ill-fated magazine were scathing about Lebedev, who became the first Russian (and ex-KGB spy) to own a UK title when he bought a controlling stake in the Evening Standard in January.
  • (15) While focusing criticism on a few members of the regiment – particularly Corporal Donald Payne, Lieutenant Craig Rodgers and Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Mendonca – the report also passes scathing comment on the role of the unit's regimental medical officer, Dr Derek Keilloh, and its padre, Father Peter Madden.
  • (16) Mark Rock, the founder and chief executive of sound-sharing application Audioboo , was scathing about the industry's moves towards digital switchover and the decision to base principally around DAB radio.
  • (17) It is particularly scathing about the practice of some officials personally targeting political opponents including successive home secretaries, the Tory former chief whip Andrew Mitchell , and Tom Winsor, who produced the official report proposing significant police reforms.
  • (18) Russia’s nuclear sabre-rattling is unjustified, destabilising and dangerous Jens Stoltenberg In blunt language, the Nato chief delivered a scathing critique of Russia’s behaviour over the past year – including Moscow’s armed intervention in Ukraine – and vowed the transatlantic alliance would redouble its commitment to “collective defence”.
  • (19) As a consequence, he's the go-to guy for a scathing quote on dissembling theologies and their gullible believers.
  • (20) A scathing report by the Department of Justice last week concluded that Ferguson’s police and court system was blighted by racial bias .