sour
adjective
having an acid taste, resembling that of vinegar, lemon juice, etc.; tart.
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Sourc.
sour
American
[souuhr, sou-er]
/ saʊər, ˈsaʊ ər /
adjective
sourer,
sourest
-
having an acid taste, resembling that of vinegar, lemon juice, etc.; tart.
- Antonyms:
- sweet
-
rendered acid or affected by fermentation; fermented.
-
producing the one of the four basic taste sensations that is not bitter, salt, or sweet.
-
characteristic of something fermented.
a sour smell.
-
distasteful or disagreeable; unpleasant.
- Synonyms:
- unsatisfactory, subpar, suboptimal, bitter
-
below standard; poor.
It was a sour effort all around, the kind of effort that doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
-
harsh in spirit or temper; acrimonious; disagreeable; peevish.
-
Agriculture. (of soil) having excessive acidity.
-
(of gasoline or the like) contaminated by sulfur compounds.
-
Music. off-pitch; badly produced.
a sour note.
noun
-
something that is sour.
-
any of various cocktails consisting typically of whiskey or gin with lemon or lime juice and sugar and sometimes soda water, often garnished with a slice of orange, a maraschino cherry, or both.
-
any of various beers with a particularly acidic or tart taste, made so by acid-producing bacteria and yeast in the brew.
Sours are a good choice to go with deep-fried bar food.
-
an acid or an acidic substance used in laundering and bleaching to neutralize alkalis and to decompose residual soap or bleach.
verb (used without object)
-
sours,
present (3rd person singular)
-
soured,
past participle, past
-
souring
present participle
-
to become sour, rancid, mildewed, etc.; spoil.
Milk sours quickly in warm weather. The laundry soured before it was ironed.
-
to become unpleasant or strained; worsen; deteriorate.
Relations between the two countries have soured.
-
to become bitter, disillusioned, or disinterested.
I guess I soured when I learned he was married.
My loyalty soured after his last book.
-
Agriculture. (of soil) to develop excessive acidity.
verb (used with object)
-
sours,
present (3rd person singular)
-
soured,
past participle, past
-
souring
present participle
-
to make sour; cause sourness in.
What do they use to sour the mash?
-
to cause spoilage in; rot.
Defective cartons soured the apples.
-
to make bitter, disillusioned, or disagreeable.
One misadventure needn't have soured him. That swindle soured a great many potential investors.
sour
1
British
/ ˈsaʊə /
adjective
-
having or denoting a sharp biting taste like that of lemon juice or vinegar Compare bitter
-
made acid or bad, as in the case of milk or alcohol, by the action of microorganisms
-
having a rancid or unwholesome smell
-
(of a person's temperament) sullen, morose, or disagreeable
-
(esp of the weather or climate) harsh and unpleasant
-
disagreeable; distasteful
a sour experience
-
(of land, etc) lacking in fertility, esp due to excessive acidity
-
(of oil, gas, or petrol) containing a relatively large amount of sulphur compounds
-
to become unfavourable or inharmonious
his marriage went sour
noun
-
something sour
-
any of several iced drinks usually made with spirits, lemon juice, and ice
a whiskey sour
-
an acid used in laundering and bleaching clothes or in curing animal skins
verb
Sour
2
British
/ sʊə /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
oversournessnoun
-
sournessnoun
-
unsournessnoun
-
oversouradjective
-
sourishadjective
-
unsouradjective
-
oversourlyadverb
-
sourlyadverb
-
unsourlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
soursimple
-
sourssimple
-
have souredperfect
-
has souredperfect
-
am souringprogressive
-
are souringprogressive
-
is souringprogressive
-
have been souringperfect progressive
-
has been souringperfect progressive
Past
-
souredsimple
-
had souredperfect
-
was souringprogressive
-
were souringprogressive
-
had been souringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sour
First recorded before 1000; Middle English adjective and noun sure, soure, Old English adjective sūr; cognate with German sauer, Dutch zuur, Old Norse sūrr
Explanation
If something is sour, it has a tangy or sharp flavor, like a lemon. Your brother may love the taste of limes, while they're way too sour for you. Sometimes this adjective is used to describe a fermented odor (the way milk smells when it goes bad), or a wrong note in music, or even a terrible mood: "Mom was acting so sour that I didn't even ask her if we could have pizza for dinner." Sour comes from the Old English sur, "sour, tart, or fermented."
Vocabulary lists containing sour
"The Sun Rising" by John Donne
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odes
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Part 2 Vocabulary (Unit 3)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Toss them with egg noodles and add a swirl of sour cream or labneh and you have something that starts edging toward weeknight stroganoff.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
As the second half wore on, the resilient visitors actually missed the game's two best chances through Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Brennan Johnson, while the mood became increasingly sour as nerves and anxiety grew.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
It’s easy to imagine how quickly a workplace relationship can sour over something as simple as: Did they use AI to make that?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
M. trumani and every felid lineage sampled in the study lacked a functional gene responsible for producing a receptor involved in detecting sour tastes.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026
Even if I could read the words out loud, and make them sweet and sour, long and short, high and low, all I would be hearing in my own head was “You’re mean.”
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
Nerds, Nutter Butters and Sour Patch Kids are turning up in sweet collaborations on restaurant menus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Reflecting more recent tastes, the Charts Company has also published a list of the most-streamed albums of the 2020s, led by Olivia Rodrigo's Sour.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
I ask if Sour Patch Kids are gluten-free, and I get a warning about additives in the ingredient list.
From Slate ● May 6, 2026
Sour cream and cheese to add tang; pinto beans and red salsa for heartiness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
Sour odors of sweat and urine rise from the bed.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
For the rest of us, however, inflation may leave a sourer taste.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2022
Pickle flavor hits all the right notes for people — especially those under 40 — who are looking for bigger, bolder, brighter and sourer flavors, food and beverage researchers said.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2022
Compared with punchier, sourer, more cynical sitcoms—from All in the Family to Seinfeld to The Office—that found humor in humanity’s bad behavior, Friends was smiley and conflict-averse to the point of being featherweight.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2014
But starting today, in New York's Times Square, the American flag will have a distinctly sourer appearance.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 1, 2014
To Ladykin, Truth out of season was sourer than strawberries at Christmas time.
From The Sick-a-Bed Lady And Also Hickory Dock, The Very Tired Girl, The Happy-Day, Something That Happened in October, The Amateur Lover, Heart of The City, The Pink Sash, Woman's Only Business by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
It’s a return to innocence — a gustatory reminder of those carefree childhood moments when I indulged in the sourest of sour treats to my heart’s content.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2025
"Has that not just left the sourest taste in the mouth at the end of this international summer? I'm dumbfounded," said England all-rounder Georgia Elwiss on BBC Test Match Special.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2022
Filipino cooking is among the world’s brightest, sweetest, sourest, and funkiest of world cuisines; by comparison, almost any other food seems bland.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 19, 2018
But it is Cézanne’s treatment of Hortense’s mouth — surely the sourest and meanest in the history of portraiture — that is truly riveting.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 13, 2018
“Whose lemons are the sourest and—and—juiciest ever grown.”
From Aunt Jane?s Nieces on the Ranch by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
Everything reasonable from the first half quickly sours.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2026
The clatter of cutlery as an atmosphere sours over dinner.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
Renowned photographer Randy and his playwright husband Jack are vacationing on the Oregon coast, but their trip sours.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2026
And new entities are struggling to gain traction as investor sentiment sours.
From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026
The question sours in my mouth as he turns back to yanking the rest of the tattered plants.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
Although Americans initially supported these interventions, they soured on them many years before they ended.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
The trial heard their friendship soured after an unsuccessful attempt by Dennis to sell a fake Rolex given to him by Oladipo.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
But amid the crypto collapse in 2022, NFT sales volumes dived and never recovered as investors soured on the assets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Bond markets soured to rising oil prices as hopes for a U.S.-Iran deal over Hormuz faded, and Treasury yields rose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
His expression soured ever so slightly, as though he’d just swallowed some grounds with his already-bitter cup of coffee.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
Japanese investors souring on Treasurys would add to upward pressure on yields, which move inversely to bond prices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Samsung Electronics stock had its worst day in three weeks on Monday as investors reacted to its shareholder-return plan, souring the mood for other memory-chip making rivals.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026
Maybe they’re souring on the markets they see.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
As the souring mood spilled into U.S. trading, hitting AI-related stocks, a chorus of investors and analysts sounded the alarm that leverage was building up here, too.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Doubt curls into my stomach, souring it with anxiety.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
