bittersweet

Bittersweet means a combination of both bitter and sweet, or an emotional feeling that is a mixture of both happy and sad. (adjective)

A bittersweet is a climbing plant in the nightshade family or Celastrus genus or the emotion that joins joy and sadness. (noun)

See bittersweet in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

☆ a North American twining woody vine (Celastrus scandens) of the staff-tree family, with poisonous leaves, and bearing clusters of small orange fruits with bright-red fleshy seeds
a poisonous, climbing European vine (Solanum dulcamara) of the nightshade family, with purple flowers and red berries, now widely found as a weed in North America
1. bitterness and sweetness combined
2. pleasure mixed with overtones of sadness

adjective

See bittersweet in American Heritage Dictionary 4

(bĭtˈər-swētˌ)

noun

A woody vine of the genus Celastrus, especially the North American species C. scandens and the eastern Asian species C. orbiculata, having small, round, yellow-orange fruits that open at maturity to expose red seeds. Also called staff tree.
See bittersweet nightshade.
A dark to deep reddish orange.

adjective

Bitter and sweet at the same time: bittersweet chocolate.
Producing or expressing a mixture of pain and pleasure: a movie with a bittersweet ending.
Dark to deep reddish-orange.

Learn more about bittersweet

Related Articles

» Examples of Paradox