# bittering

Pronunciation: US say "BIT-er-ing" /ˈbɪ.təɹ.ɪŋ/; UK say "BIT-uh-ing" /ˈbɪt.ə(ɹ).ɪŋ/

## Adjective

1. Producing or adding a bitter taste or smell to something.
   - Simple: Making something taste or smell bitter.
   - _Brewers prize certain hops for their strong bittering effect on the finished ale._
   - _The bittering oils in the rind made the marmalade unpleasantly harsh._

## Verb

2. Present participle and gerund of bitter. — present participle and gerund of bitter
   - Simple: Present participle of bitter. Use this -ing form when the action is happening now.
   - _The cold winters were slowly bittering the old man's temper._
   - _Adding too many hops is bittering the brew beyond recovery._

## Noun

3. The act of making something bitter, or of something becoming bitter.
   - Simple: The process of making something bitter, or of something turning bitter.
   - _The bittering of the wort is a key step in traditional brewing._
   - _Prolonged storage caused a slow bittering of the cooking oil._
4. A bitter compound, such as one used to adulterate beer or one removed from coffee.
   - Simple: A bitter substance added to beer or taken out of coffee.
   - _Unscrupulous brewers slipped a bittering into the barrels to mask weak ale._
   - _Several bitterings can be drawn off from coffee to reduce its harshness._

## Origin

Formed from "bitter" combined with the suffix "-ing."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bittering (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).