take the bitter with the sweet
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Accept unpleasant things along with pleasant ones
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Chấp nhận những điều khó chịu cùng với những điều dễ chịu
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: consume both bitter and sweet tastes
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
You have to take the bitter with the sweet when you're in a relationship
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “take the bitter with the sweet” mean?
Accept unpleasant things along with pleasant ones Literally: consume both bitter and sweet tastes
Is “take the bitter with the sweet” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.