sour grapes
sour
verb[ I or T ]
uk /saʊər/ us /saʊr/

sourverb[I or T] (TASTE)

to become sour or to make something become sour: （使）变酸；（使）酸腐
Hot weather sours milk.热天会让牛奶变酸。
Milk sours in hot weather.牛奶在热天会变酸。

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Damaging and spoiling
adulterant
adulterate
adulterated
adulteration
applecart
butcher
degrade
drive a wedge between someoneidiom
dry rot
eat
eat away at something
erode
foul
put something out of jointidiom
queer
rain on someone's paradeidiom
rampage
ravage
seismic
wreck

sourverb[I or T] (BAD FEELING)

to (cause to) become unpleasant or unfriendly: （使）令人不快，（使）不友好
Her whole attitude to life soured as a result of that experience.那次经历过后，她对生活的整个态度变得很消极。
This incident has soured relations between the two countries.这一事件导致两国关系恶化。

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to spoil something
spoilDon't spoil the movie by telling me what happens!
ruinI put too much salt in the sauce and ruined it.
defaceMany of the library books had been defaced.
disfigureHer face was disfigured by the scar.
sourOur friendship soured after the argument, and we just drifted apart.
poisonThe long dispute has poisoned relations between the two countries.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Damaging and spoiling
adulterant
adulterate
adulterated
adulteration
applecart
butcher
degrade
drive a wedge between someoneidiom
dry rot
eat
eat away at something
erode
foul
put something out of jointidiom
queer
rain on someone's paradeidiom
rampage
ravage
seismic
wreck
sour
noun[ C ]
mainly USuk /saʊər/ us /saʊr/
a drink made from strong alcohol, lemon, or lime juice, sugar, and ice: 酸味鸡尾酒
a whisky sour威士忌酸味鸡尾酒

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Cocktails
Bloody Mary
Buck's Fizz
caipirinha
cocktail
cosmopolitan
gimlet
highball
julep
kir
manhattan
mint julep
mixology
mocktail
mojito
orgeat
shaker
shrub
spritz
spritzer
swizzle

sour | American Dictionary

sour
adjective
us/sɑʊər/

souradjective (TASTE)

(esp. of food) having a sharp taste:
The four basic tastes are sweet, salty, bitter, and sour.

souradjective (UNPLEASANT)

unfriendly or unpleasant in manner or attitude:
The team’s perfect season went/turned sour after they lost their second straight game.
sour
verb
us/sɑʊər/

sourverb (TASTE)

[ I ]
to become sour:
I’m afraid the milk has soured.

sourverb (UNPLEASANT)

[ I/T ]
to become bad or unpleasant, or cause someone to feel bad or unhappy:
[ I ]When the economy soured, donations to the charity dried up.

sour | Business English

sour
verb[ I or T ]
uk /saʊər/us
to become, or cause to become, less pleasant, friendly, or successful:
Meeting clients unexpectedly can sour a relationship.
Loans are souring, as bankruptcies and the bad debts they leave behind keep mounting.
a market/economy soursCompanies and families spend less on travel when the economy sours.
sour
adjective
uk /saʊər/us
no longer successful or pleasant:
sour economy/marketThe economic slump was caused primarily by a sour housing market.
 go sour
to fail or become unpleasant:
Year-end is traditionally when many investors decide whether to sell stocks that have gone sour.

Examples of sour

sour
Also, wealthy foreign owners could not as easily demand bailouts if business went sour.
At present sour, sugar-free sweets are advised to aid the stimulation of the salivary gland in conjunction with at least 8 glasses of water daily.
In 2001, when the economy became sour once again, they fell sharply.
Known as rallander'as, they employ most of the region's labour and supply almost 80 % of i the national demand for sour starch.
The strong have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the weak are set on edge.
The modest protest such practices draw from local, but uninvited architects is perceived as either sour grapes or petty provincialism.
But in recent months, the relationship had soured.
It misses much: for instance, the friendships that never soured and were never 'needed' in court.
They sell 80 % of the production to the sour starch rallander'as for income generation.
But we need a little more sour with the sweet to tickle the palate.
Indeed, in 200 pages the author manages to cover a great deal of ground without committing any major mistakes or dipping into sour generalisations.
Marriage which is supposed to be a sacred ceremony is made sour and becomes like any other business transaction.
But the satisfaction that we, the audience, took in it also left a sour taste in my mouth.
One of the essentials of good palliative nursing is to ensure that spirituality does not go sour.
Enlisting lawyers or trades unions to challenge unfair practices was regarded as risky, since it could alienate clients and sour partnerships.
See all examples of sour
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.