having an acid taste, resembling that of vinegar, lemon juice, etc.; tart.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
First recorded before 1000; Middle English adjective and noun sure, soure, Old English adjective sūr; cognate with German sauer, Dutch zuur, Old Norse sūrr
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."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Choose whatever farmers market flavor is calling to you—apricot, sour cherry, blackberry and red plum would all be excellent this time of year.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
Keegan's return as Newcastle United manager in 2008 swiftly turned sour and he never returned to the game.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
The Asian refineries have been replacing that medium sour crude with U.S. light sweet crude, which yields more gasoline and less diesel.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026
The notice of violation was issued on July 12th, after the agency received more than 40 public complaints of rotten, sour, garbage-type odors in the area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Just as I’d hoped, the added power of sour caused a buzz.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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
Mondelez International Inc., the maker of Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers and Sour Patch Kids candy, said late Tuesday it reached “peak costs” and dialed down its expectations for the year.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2025
Laleh had acquired a bag of Sour Patch Kids while she browsed Terminal 4, and the combination of sugar and temporal distortion proved an incendiary one.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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
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
Matthew had a curious trick of curtailing his phrases as his temper waxed sourer.
From Great Uncle Hoot-Toot by Molesworth, Mrs.
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
Perhaps the sourest note came from ABC with word that it’s canceling “Nashville” after four seasons.
From Seattle Times ● May 13, 2016
And so formidable was Eliza—a woman of the hardest and sourest virtue—when she chose, that Bessie was afraid of her, even on her deathbed, though generally ready enough to quarrel with other people.
From Bessie Costrell by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
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
She’s soured on city living now that she and her husband have a 3-year-old.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
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
Dr. Trefusis could not continue, soured his visage, then made another attempt, this time more gentle in his tone.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
The broader private-credit industry has started facing similar elevated redemption requests because of souring loan performance and fear of future defaults.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 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
The narrative that young people are souring on AI doesn’t match what I’ve seen in law school.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
On the other hand, because of their souring relationship, Megan had asked her mother not to come to her high school graduation.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
