sour
adjective
having an acid taste, resembling that of vinegar, lemon juice, etc.; tart.
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:
Mix the wet ingredients: Whisk the eggs and sugar, then whisk in the melted butter, sour cream and vanilla.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
But that bet went sour as their value has fallen by around $10,000.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
I’d run my fingers across the convex pyramid textures in the same way other people lay under a weighted blanket or ate sour candy, jolting my subconscious back into the here and now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Airplane cabins’ lower humidity levels can diminish passengers’ ability to taste and smell, leaving light wines tasting like water, or highly acidic wines tasting sour and overly tangy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
I began to chuckle, then caught myself as Dovid shot me a sour look.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
For Phillips Distilling, the impact of the provincial liquor boycott was felt almost immediately due to the popularity Sour Puss in Canada.
From BBC ● May 28, 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
The fast-food company has spent years plotting its beverage expansion, including tests of Sour Cherry Energy Burst and Blackberry Mint Green Tea drinks at the company’s short-lived concept called CosMc’s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
Sour cream and cheese to add tang; pinto beans and red salsa for heartiness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
“Unchain Reek and take him with you,” Ramsay growled at Sour Alyn, but his father waved a pale hand and said, “No, leave him.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
For the rest of us, however, inflation may leave a sourer taste.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2022
But in two self-portraits, featuring the artist cradling an old-time painter’s palette, you also sense a sourer side.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2021
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
Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images This Queens Park Rangers vintage is now officially corked, the season turning sourer than the cheap plonk served up by the hapless Swindon sommelier John Gorman in 1993.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 14, 2012
"Horrible!" exclaimed Mrs. Thorne, after her first mouthful; "these cakes are sourer than vinegar."
From Divers Women by Pansy
"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
The sourest, meanest mouth in the history of portraiture.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 23, 2020
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
Perhaps the sourest note came from ABC with word that it’s canceling “Nashville” after four seasons.
From Seattle Times ● May 13, 2016
I am afraid the sourest hang longest on the tree.
From Imaginary Conversations and Poems A Selection by Walter Savage Landor
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
I wish I could take the words back as Soojin’s expression instantly sours.
From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan
It first soured over a decade ago, during the tenure of athletic director Pat Haden.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
The alliance has genuinely soured in recent months.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026
Some in Westminster have highlighted the "collegiate" relationship between him and the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, a contrast to the briefings after Healey's resignation that revealed his soured relationship with the Treasury.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
That venture soon soured because the scandal-prone Portnoy was, apparently, not a good fit for the highly regulated gambling industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
Pigeon feathers drifted onto the windowsill, and one evening, when I poured milk over my cornflakes, I saw that it had soured.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Maybe they’re souring on the markets they see.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Buffett said his decision to no longer give to the Gates Foundation wasn’t based on a souring of his relationship with Gates, or revelations relating to Gates’s ties with Jeffrey Epstein.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
But it clearly shows that investors aren’t souring on South Korean chip companies just yet, even in the face of more volatility and AI-bubble fears.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
Each new alarm like this elicits anxieties and murmurs that souring private credit is about to become the new subprime mortgage crisis.
From Barron's ● May 30, 2026
‘Oh, no, no. Other babies can tell you whether it’s gas or a pin, or milk souring on them. But he’s a real Silsbee, and they never do, you know.’
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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.
