Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having a taste characteristic of that produced by acids; sharp, tart, or tangy.
- adj. Made acid or rancid by fermentation.
- adj. Having the characteristics of fermentation or rancidity; tasting or smelling of decay.
- adj. Bad-tempered and morose; peevish: a sour temper.
- adj. Displeased with something one formerly admired or liked; disenchanted: sour on ballet.
- adj. Not measuring up to the expected or usual ability or quality; bad.
- adj. Not having the correct or properly produced pitch: a sour note.
- adj. Of or relating to excessively acid soil that is damaging to crops.
- adj. Containing excessive sulfur compounds. Used of gasoline.
- n. The sensation of sour taste, one of the four primary tastes.
- n. Something sour.
- n. A mixed drink made especially with whiskey, lemon or lime juice, sugar, and sometimes soda water.
- v. To make or become sour.
- v. To make or become disagreeable, disillusioned, or disenchanted.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having an acid taste; sharp to the taste; tart; acid; specifically, acid in consequence of fermentation; fermented, and thus spoiled: as, sour bread; sour milk.
- Harsh of temper; crabbed; peevish; austere; morose: as, a man of a sour temper.
- Afflictive; hard to bear; bitter; disagreeable to the feelings; distasteful in any manner.
- Expressing discontent, displeasure, or peevishness: as, a sour word.
- Cold; wet; harsh; unkindly to crops: said of soil.
- Coarse: said of grass.
- Synonyms Acetous, acetose.
- 2 and
- Cross, testy, waspish, snarling, cynical.
- n. Something sour or acid; something bitter or disagreeable.
- n. Dirt; filth.
- n. An acid punch.
- n. In bleaching and dyeing:
- n. A bath of buttermilk or sour milk, or of soured bran or rye-flour, used by primitive bleachers.
- n. A weak solution of sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, used for various purposes. Compare souring, 5.
- To become sour; become acid; acquire the quality of tartness or pungency to the taste, as by fermentation: as, cider sours rapidly in the rays of the sun.
- To become peevish, crabbed, or harsh in temper.
- To become harsh, wet, cold, or unkindly to crops: said of soil.
- To make sour; make acid; cause to have a sharp taste, especially by fermentation.
- To make harsh, crabbed, morose, or bitter in temper; make cross or discontented; embitter; prejudice.
- To make harsh, wet, cold, or unkindly to crops: said of soil.
- In bleaching, etc., to treat with a dilute acid.
- To macerate and render fit for plaster or mortar, as lime.
- Sourly; bitterly.
- n. In drenching or puering skins, the old liquor which has become sour or turned.
Wiktionary
- adj. Having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste.
- adj. Made rancid by fermentation, etc.
- adj. Tasting or smelling rancid.
- adj. Peevish or bad-tempered.
- adj. of soil Excessively acidic and thus infertile.
- adj. of petroleum Containing excess sulfur.
- adj. Unfortunate or unfavorable.
- n. The sensation of a sour taste.
- n. A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.
- n. by extension Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.
- v. To make or become sour.
- v. To become disenchanted.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having an acid or sharp, biting taste, like vinegar, and the juices of most unripe fruits; acid; tart.
- adj. Changed, as by keeping, so as to be acid, rancid, or musty, turned.
- adj. Disagreeable; unpleasant; hence; cross; crabbed; peevish; morose.
- adj. Afflictive; painful.
- adj. Cold and unproductive
- n. A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
- v. To cause to become sour; to cause to turn from sweet to sour.
- v. To make cold and unproductive, as soil.
- v. To make unhappy, uneasy, or less agreeable.
- v. To cause or permit to become harsh or unkindly.
- v. To macerate, and render fit for plaster or mortar.
- v. To become sour; to turn from sweet to sour
WordNet 3.0
- n. a cocktail made of a liquor (especially whiskey or gin) mixed with lemon or lime juice and sugar
- adj. having a sharp biting taste
- v. go sour or spoil
- adj. smelling of fermentation or staleness
- adj. inaccurate in pitch
- adj. in an unpalatable state
- adj. showing a brooding ill humor
- n. the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth
- n. the property of being acidic
- adj. one of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of vinegar or lemons
- v. make sour or more sour
Etymologies
- From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr ("sour"), from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūr- (“sour (milk)”). Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur ("sour"), Low German suur, German sauer ("sour"), Danish and Swedish sur ("sour"), Icelandic súr ("sour, bitter"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English sūr. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“She tried to shake him off, but his fingers tightened and she sat still, her expression sour as he began to pour healing energy into her.”
““Uh-huh,” Kaitlynn replied, her expression sour as she looked Ariana up and down.”
“Ex surveyed the circle of dirt, his expression sour.”
“Amanda went to stand opposite Berry on the other side of the bed, her expression sour.”
“Anonymous -- sorry if I struck a nerve, but in my experience Chinese American restaurant (I emphasize restaurant) sweet and sour is pretty heavy.”
So You Think You've Had Sweet And Sour?: Thai Sweet And Sour With Pork
“Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogenous and thick.”
“I am afraid they are not like that Taco Bell stuff you Americans like so much, sir, but if you want I can smother them in sour cream and you will hardly be able to tell the difference.”
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » 2009 » May » 25
“Remove from heat and stir in sour cream until well combined.”
“Because, spelled out on the customer side of the cash register screen, scrolling horizontally in sour green lights, was the following playfully animated message: “WELCOME TO G. HEAVEN — Have a good day!!!””
“Rising commodity prices, combined with increasingly competitive pricing and rising advertising and promotion budgets, are contributing to what Nomura analysts have dubbed a "margin sour spot.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sour’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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CULI - wine-tasting adjectives
In this area of expertise nouns are frequently used as adjectives (almond, bacon, cider, diesel, fennel, fresh-cut hay, wool) or new adjectives are formed (appley, berrylike, citrusy, full-bodied, ...
acetic, acidic, aged, angular, appley, astringent, attractive, austere, berrylike, big, bitter, brawny and 511 more...
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Describing the Taste of Foods
yummy, zesty, piquant, pungent, sharp, spicy, poignant, delicious, ambrosial, appetizing, delectable, heavenly and 194 more...
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SMILE and other emotive verbs
Single verbs that describe expression or emotional reaction. "He __ed" (smiled/gulped/scoffed...)
smile, beam, sneer, scoff, giggle, laugh, snigger, scowl, grin, leer, wince, grimace and 97 more...
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Sounds
words that describe sound
atchoo, atishoo, babble, bam, bay, beep, blast, blather, bleat, bleep, blip, bong and 242 more...
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bad memory
copper, anvil, oblique, thrust, shrine, welfare, farewell, bitter, faction, sectarian, tangible, spectacle and 134 more...
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food collection
bread, peel, pot, chorizo, Filet, olive, fill, Phyllo, dough, bake, mat, pinot and 988 more...
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Words to Describe The Taste of Food
This list seeks to address a pet annoyance of mine. It occurs when chefs, food critics and travel writers, usually on television, taste something that looks either delicious or unusual and then in...
unctuous, sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, piquant, savory, tangy, luscious, delectable, brackish and 66 more...
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incandescent
these I like very much
effervescent, snuggly, wicked, betrothed, bounce, shameful, finicky, clandestine, pontificate, luscious, lascivious, loquacious and 25 more...
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IxLovexApples's list
this is a list of the words I use the most. if you look at all of them you can kind of tell my personality.
bitch, hot, kool, wow, wtf, omfg, slut, ass, gay, ugh, bleh, spaz and 12 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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dandy's list
favourite words
cattywampus, wibble, fenagle, whisker, sneeze, wisteria, honeysuckle, clove, perihelion, glimmer, twilight, dusk and 264 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 1972 more... -
reginaterra's Words
purl, blow, squish, andean, generality, adaptation, lush, pack, filter, acquiesce, abstraction, sweet and 508 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Miss Sunshine
she's such a joy.
bereaved, bitter, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, downcast and 405 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sour.

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