bitter truth
Painful honest fact
A bitter truth is a fact that is painful or unwelcome but nevertheless accurate.
The phrase acknowledges that some realities are hard to accept—about ourselves, others, or circumstances—yet must be faced: The bitter truth is that she never loved him.
The bitterness lies not in the truth itself but in our resistance to it.
- harshUnpleasantly severe or rough
- realityWhat actually exists
- painfulCausing hurt or ache
- honestyTruthfulness, sincerity
- bluntDull or tactlessly direct
unvarnished · raw · uncomfortable · sting · hard to swallow · swallow · accept · revelation · rude awakening · wake up call · awakening · sobering · candid · unpleasant · hard · fact · realization · acknowledge
- truthsfacts, fact, reality, verity, verities
- harsh realitiesreality check, brutal honesty, harsh criticism, harsh reality, reality
- disillusionmentdisillusionment, disenchantment, disillusion, lost innocence, lost faith
bitter truthwhite lie
Harmless minor falsehood
good news · polite fiction · wishful thinking · fairy tale · self-deception
bitter truthself-deception
Convincing yourself of falsehoods
willful ignorance · denial · blissful ignorance · noble lie · polite fiction
bitter truthgentle letdown
euphemism · beating around the bush · sugarcoating · spin · glossing over
bitter, truth, bitterly, bitterness, bitters, true, untrue, truthful, truthfully