(a.) Sweet and then bitter or bitter and then sweet; esp. sweet with a bitter after taste; hence (Fig.), pleasant but painful.
(n.) Anything which is bittersweet.
(n.) A kind of apple so called.
(n.) A climbing shrub, with oval coral-red berries (Solanum dulcamara); woody nightshade. The whole plant is poisonous, and has a taste at first sweetish and then bitter. The branches are the officinal dulcamara.
(n.) An American woody climber (Celastrus scandens), whose yellow capsules open late in autumn, and disclose the red aril which covers the seeds; -- also called Roxbury waxwork.
Example Sentences:
(1) For the embattled people of Ali Akbar Dial, a collection of disappearing villages on the southern tip of the island in Bangladesh , the distant trees serve as a bittersweet reminder of what they have lost and a warning of what is come.
(2) The revolt represents a bittersweet victory for Tsipras, who now has to rely on “pro-European” opposition parties to push policies through parliament.
(3) The song is that musical embodiment of bittersweet chemical comedown when you still feel divine but your heart skips a beat and you don't always quite catch your breath."
(4) It’s been a bittersweet week for NHS providers – the hospital, mental health, ambulance and community NHS trusts and foundation trusts who treat a million patients every 36 hours and are the backbone of our national health service.
(5) Emma's work is also showcased in the shop until the end of May in Sad Stefano and Friends (pictured), an exhibition that promises to capture the bittersweet complexities and confusion of childhood.
(6) She said the prospect of stricter gun control laws was bittersweet.
(7) This time, they held out but there were some hairy moments after Wayne Rooney’s sending off and it was a bittersweet occasion for the man Louis van Gaal had entrusted to be his captain.
(8) Winter stem fluid from the bittersweet nightshade, Solanum dulcamara L., also showed the recrystallization inhibition activity characteristic of the animal thermal hysteresis proteins (THPs), suggesting a possible function for the THPs in this freeze tolerant species.
(9) "Unless we move to adopt a new economic model, the recovery will prove unsustainable and bittersweet for those who do not benefit from it before it is extinguished."
(10) After Liverpool announced the previous day that their captain would be leaving for MLS , Rodgers’ feelings about the source of the rescue act must have been bittersweet: could it not have been someone, anyone, else?
(11) And that could be crucial.” It seems that the particular bittersweet combination of nostalgic memory is vital to such effects.
(12) He drinks and dances and talks his way through a couple of days in the city, arriving at a moment of bittersweet joy as he watches his younger sister ride the carousel in Central Park.
(13) In a bittersweet farewell, Gabrielle Giffords , the US congresswoman recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, accepted chocolates and a big presidential hug as she claimed her seat one last time in the House of Representatives during Barack Obama's state of the union address.
(14) There is another a bittersweet angle to the story: the relationship between Ramphele and the DA's current leader, Helen Zille, who is giving up the presidential candidacy, dates back to the death of Ramphele's former partner, the Black Consciousness activist Steve Biko.
(15) These memories are associated with a characteristic affective coloration described as "bittersweet".
(16) Two months later, many of the students who pushed for the change say the decision is bittersweet.
(17) It's pretty much perfect: the story of a love that can never happen, between a failing Dublin songwriter and a Czech immigrant, it has that Brief Encounter bittersweet ache to it.
(18) Everyone else has written about her, so it’s a chance to give her version.” Obama’s favourite word in recent months has been “bittersweet” as she cycles through the calendar of events for the last time.
(19) She added: "I can only imagine how bittersweet her freedom must be for her, leaving Shane and Josh behind."
(20) And in a bittersweet twist of political fate this quiet revolt by the people of the East End may yet lock Ed Miliband out of 10 Downing Street.
Hagberry
Definition:
(n.) A plant of the genus Prunus (P. Padus); the bird cherry.