the bitter end
14
7.1
- idiom
:
hasta el final
- She promised to support her friend through the bitter end of his difficult divorce.
- fight to the bitter end
And even then, until the bitter end they will blame other people for their downfall.
- And even then, until the bitter end they will blame other people for their downfall.
- They will play out the vengeance fantasy till the bitter end.
- He wanted to go out with his followers on his throne, King to the bitter end.
- I would fight to the bitter end to make sure that I had equal visitation with my dogs.
- My guess is he still thinks he's smarter than all of us, and he's going to play this to the bitter end.
- So we've got we've got some fun stuff ahead, but make sure to to stay tuned through the the bitter end for Mayim wrestling with her shadow self.
- You've got to be there till the bitter end, till every last possible interview, sale, you know, screening, spending more money on film vessels.
Examples
-
I hope you stay till the bitter end.
-
I'd been there till the bitter end, chatting up a woman who ran a writers' colony in Tuscany.
Academic text (2010) -
"You make sure you fight till the bitter end."
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Honey, you hold on to it, to the bitter end.
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We'll fight for our rights to the bitter end.
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We're going to take it to the bitter end.
Fiction book (2000) -
Sometimes you have to fight for your way of life to the bitter end.
Blog text (8) -
I'll be with you till the bitter end.
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I would fight to the bitter end to make sure that I had equal visitation with my dogs.
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Of course, Flick and Schwartz stayed at my side right to the bitter end.
Synonyms
2
3.7
A disappointing finish to a story, event, or experience
A bad ending that often leaves someone hurt or killed
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'bitter' (unpleasant, resentful) combined with 'end' (final point) allows a learner to infer an unpleasant or final outcome, so much of the basic meaning is compositionally accessible. However, the phrase is a set collocation with idiomatic nuances (e.g. persistence 'until the bitter end' and an especially unpleasant or definitive final stage) that are somewhat metaphorical and not fully predictable from the parts, making it only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The phrase the bitter end may come from old ships, where sailors tied heavy ropes to a strong post and the rope end reached that post when there was no rope left. That image of having 'no more rope' came to mean staying until 'the very end', often a hard or unpleasant finish.