Meaning of “sour” in the English Dictionary

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"sour" in English

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souradjective

uk ​ /saʊər/ us ​ /saʊr/

sour adjective (TASTE)

B1 having a sharp, sometimes unpleasant, taste or smell, like a lemon, and not sweet:

These plums are a bit sour.

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Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

sourly
adverb uk ​ /ˈsaʊə.li/ us ​ /ˈsaʊr.li/
sourness
noun [ U ] uk ​ /ˈsaʊə.nəs/ us ​ /ˈsaʊr.nəs/

Idiom(s)

sour grapes

sourverb [ I or T ]

uk ​ /saʊər/ us ​ /saʊr/

sournoun [ C ]

uk ​ /saʊər/ us ​ /saʊr/ mainly US

(Definition of “sour” from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

"sour" in American English

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souradjective

us ​ /sɑʊər/

sour adjective (TASTE)

› (esp. of food) having a sharp taste:

The four basic tastes are sweet, salty, bitter, and sour.

sour adjective (UNPLEASANT)

› unfriendly or unpleasant in manner or attitude:

The team’s perfect season went/turned sour after they lost their second straight game.

sourverb

us ​ /sɑʊər/

sour verb (TASTE)

› [ I ] to become sour:

I’m afraid the milk has soured.

sour verb (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.

(Definition of “sour” from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

"sour" in Business English

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sourverb [ 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 sours Companies and families spend less on travel when the economy sours.

souradjective

uk ​ /saʊər/ us ​

› no longer successful or pleasant:

sour economy/market The 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.

(Definition of “sour” from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

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