Definition of "bittersweet" []

• 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. (noun)
• See bittersweet nightshade. (noun)
• A dark to deep reddish orange. (noun)
• Bitter and sweet at the same time: bittersweet chocolate. (adjective)
• Producing or expressing a mixture of pain and pleasure: a movie with a bittersweet ending. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""This is the first time I feel like Iknow what the term bittersweet means.""
• "The term bittersweet has come up all too often lately."
• "FLINTOFF: Christmas spoke on what he called a bittersweet day, in which he had attended a memorial for one fallen Marine, then learned that another Marine and an Afghan Army soldier had just been killed."