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sour

Pronunciation: /saʊə/
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Definition of sour

adjective

  • 1having an acid taste like lemon or vinegar:she sampled the wine and found it was sour
  • (of food, especially milk) having gone bad because of fermentation: the kitchen smelled of sour milk
  • having a rancid smell:her breath was always sour
  • 2feeling or expressing resentment, disappointment, or anger:he gave her a sour look the meeting ended on a sour note
  • 3(of soil) deficient in lime and usually dank.
  • 4(of petroleum or natural gas) containing a relatively high proportion of sulphur.

noun

[with modifier]
  • a drink made by mixing a spirit with lemon or lime juice:a rum sour

verb

  • make or become sour: [with object]:water soured with tamarind (as adjective soured)soured cream
  • make or become unpleasant, acrimonious, or difficult: [with object]:a dispute soured relations between the two countries [no object]:many friendships have soured over borrowed money

Phrases

go (or turn) sour

become less pleasant; turn out badly:their relationship began to turn sour

sour grapes

used to refer to an attitude in which someone adopts a negative attitude to something because they cannot have it themselves: government officials dismissed many of the complaints as sour grapes
[with allusion to Aesop's fable The Fox and the Grapes]

Derivatives

sourish

adjective

sourly

adverb

sourness

noun

Origin:

Old English sūr, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zuur and German sauer

sour in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of sour in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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