any of several species of European composite plants that yields a bitter aromatic oil used in absinthe: genus Artemisia. Also called absinthe
something bitter or mortifying
bitterness
That the step-mother had joy, or indeed anything but gall and wormwood, out of all this is not to be pretended — Harold Frederic
[Middle English wormwode, alteration, by association with worm1 and wood1, of Old English wermōd]