curdle
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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to change into curd; coagulate; congeal.
-
to spoil; turn sour.
-
to go wrong; turn bad or fail.
Their friendship began to curdle as soon as they became business rivals.
idioms
verb
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to turn or cause to turn into curd
-
to fill someone with fear
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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curdlesimple
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curdlessimple
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have curdledperfect
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has curdledperfect
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am curdlingprogressive
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are curdlingprogressive
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is curdlingprogressive
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have been curdlingperfect progressive
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has been curdlingperfect progressive
Past
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curdledsimple
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had curdledperfect
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was curdlingprogressive
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were curdlingprogressive
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had been curdlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of curdle
Explanation
When things curdle, they turn from liquid gradually to solid, forming clumps along the way. If you leave milk out of the refrigerator long enough, it will curdle. When a liquid curdles, it forms curds, or lumpy solid masses. In some cases this is deliberate, as when you make cheese or tofu. Other times, you might accidentally let something curdle, like a custard or sauce, or a forgotten container of cream at the back of your refrigerator. Curdle was originally crudle, from crud (later curd), "any coagulated substance," or "congeal."
Vocabulary lists containing curdle
A Culinary Vocabulary Sampler
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The Odyssey
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Out of the Dust
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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:
The danger is that economic anxiety can curdle into existential melodrama.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
A practicing Mormon, Coppins had no previous experience with gambling but quickly learned how easily the “joyful naivete” of his initial use “could curdle into delusion and compulsion.”
From Slate ● May 5, 2026
Two Navy sailors, Jefferson Jones and his pal, Sink, have been adrift on a raft for 18 days, long enough for hunger to curdle into imagination.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2025
But his father declined the offer, and Cuenci’s voice began to curdle under the influence of puberty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2022
Tina shrieks loud enough to curdle the blood of a ghost.
From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon
Hilarious and incisive, the humor never draws blood, never curdles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
There may be an undercurrent of gossip, like the hints of discord between Affleck and Leavitt, but nothing that curdles our mood.
From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2025
The occasional times West spoke directly about the film were often in shorthand, referencing movies like “The Aviator” and “There Will Be Blood,” portraits of men whose genius curdles into obsession and madness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2025
I’ve seen it over and over in my practice: A gesture that is initially received with intense gratitude curdles into hurt or anger.
From Slate ● Mar. 23, 2025
One morning while Lyddie was churning, just as the cream was breaking into curdles, the cook told Lyddie about the two frogs who fell into the pail of milk.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
The cautious enthusiasm surrounding the trio of Embiid plus All-Stars Paul George and Tyrese Maxey—a costly attempt at a dated NBA concept, a “Big Three”—had long ago curdled into regret.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
A decade in New York had promised stardom; by Christmas 2016, the promise had curdled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2026
Even as investor sentiment has curdled, TD Cowen believes a sustained appetite for data-center spending could cause Vertiv’s customer orders to accelerate as soon as the fourth quarter.
From Barron's ● Dec. 1, 2025
But what the screenplay lacks in depth, the film makes up for in visual pageantry, packing just enough style to rise above a truly curdled genre offering.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2025
The largest has curdled into a pillar like the cloud of tephra and ash and steam that billows atop an erupting volcano.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
“Admiration was quickly curdling into hostility,” he writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
He returned to a hometown that seemed to be developing under that same American planning influence whose reputation was curdling up north.
From Slate ● Dec. 22, 2024
The tagline — “What a guy! What a lug! What a hero! What a bum!” — illustrates the tentative truce between fans and umpires that is always, inevitably, one call from curdling.
From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2024
Technology, nostalgia and the often-inflated value of brands and IP have created a nightmarish cycle of resurrection and regurgitation, curdling what we love most.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
It was like she was curdling inside, filling with anger.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
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.
