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Glite Dictionary
gall and wormwood

gall and wormwood

9.9
A very bitter experience that feels painful and upsetting
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : amargura
  • The news of her betrayal was pure gall and wormwood.

Examples

  • It was gall and wormwood for her to watch her rival succeed.

  • The sudden loss of the championship was gall and wormwood to the team.

  • The harsh criticism from his mentor was pure gall and wormwood to him.

  • It was a gall and wormwood experience to lose the championship.

  • Watching her rival succeed was a real gall and wormwood for her.

  • The harsh criticism from his mentor felt like gall and wormwood to him.

  • For the team, losing the championship was gall and wormwood.

Antonyms

blessing
269 1.4

A good thing or situation that brings happiness

delight
184 1.2

A thing or feeling that gives great pleasure

How Unpleasant

torment
  • NSFW
70 5.6
gall and wormwood
  • Archaic
9.9
trouble
∞ 1.0
annoyance
26 2.8
inconvenience
107 4.3

Surface Forms

gall and wormwood singular
gall and wormwoods plural

Morphology

gall + and + wormwood

Both constituents denote bitterness — 'gall' (bitter rancor) and 'wormwood' (a very bitter herb) — and their coordination signals an intensified or compounded bitterness. Although the phrase is literary/archaic, its meaning is compositional and a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can infer a deeply unpleasant or bitter experience.

Etymology

Gall and wormwood may come from a simple taste image: gall is a bitter liquid from the body and wormwood is a very bitter plant once used as medicine. That's why the phrase means 'something deeply unpleasant or bitter'.