What does "sour" mean?
The sensation of a sour taste.
Sour
/ˈsaʊə/ adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The sensation of a sour taste.
- Grammar: sour is listed as adj, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: abrupt, absonant, acerb, acerbate.
- Useful contrasts: sweet, amicable, bland.
- Usage evidence: If you add lemon, it will become sour.
How to use "sour"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "sour" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "sour" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "sour" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "sour" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "sour" is acting as adj, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abrupt" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "sour", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The sensation of a sour taste. countable, uncountable
- 2 the property of being acidic wordnet
- 3 A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar. countable, uncountable
- 4 the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth wordnet
- 5 Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice. broadly, countable, uncountable
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 a cocktail made of a liquor (especially whiskey or gin) mixed with lemon or lime juice and sugar wordnet
- 7 A sweet/candy having a sharply sour taste. countable, uncountable
"“You know I like them candies, especially the lemon sours.”"
- 8 A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect. countable, uncountable
"For many Years of Sorrow can dispense; A Dram of Sweet is worth a Pound of Sour"
- 9 The acidic solution used in souring fabric. countable, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To make sour. transitive
"Too much lemon juice will sour the recipe."
- 2 go sour or spoil wordnet
- 3 To become sour. intransitive
"So the sun's heat, with different powers, / Ripens the grape, the liquor sours."
- 4 make sour or more sour wordnet
- 5 To spoil or mar; to make disenchanted. transitive
"To sour your happiness I must report, / The queen is dead."
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- 6 To become disenchanted. intransitive
"We broke up after our relationship soured."
- 7 To make (soil) cold and unproductive. transitive
"stagnant water , which tends to sour the soil"
- 8 To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.
- 9 To process (fabric) after bleaching, using hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid to wash out the lime. transitive
Adjective
- 1 Tasting of acidity.
"Lemons have a sour taste."
- 2 Made rancid by fermentation, etc.
"Don't drink that milk; it's turned sour."
- 3 Tasting or smelling rancid.
"His sour breath makes it unpleasing to talk to him."
- 4 Hostile or unfriendly.
"He gave me a sour look."
- 5 Excessively acidic and thus infertile. (of soil)
"sour land"
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 Containing excess sulfur. (of petroleum)
"sour gas smells like rotten eggs"
- 7 Unfortunate or unfavorable.
"Let me embrace thee, sour adversity"
- 8 Off-pitch, out of tune.
"Unlike what the name implies, there is nothing inherently wrong with a sour note: It is perfectly well-tuned note that would sound normal in another context (and which presumably would not sound sour to someone unfamiliar with tonal music)."
Adjective
- 1 smelling of fermentation or staleness wordnet
- 2 showing a brooding ill humor wordnet
- 3 inaccurate in pitch wordnet
- 4 having a sharp biting taste wordnet
- 5 in an unpalatable state wordnet
Show 1 more definition
- 6 one of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of vinegar or lemons wordnet
Example
"If you add lemon, it will become sour."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "sour"?
Common synonyms include: abrupt, absonant, acerb, acerbate, acerbic, acerbity.
How do you use "sour" in a sentence?
If you add lemon, it will become sour.
How do you pronounce "sour"?
Pronounced /ˈsaʊə/.
Etymology
From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr (“sour”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūr, from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *súHros (“sour”). Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur (“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer (“sour”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sur, French sur (“sour”), Faroese súrur (“sour”), Icelandic súr (“sour, bitter”), Polish ser (“cheese”), Czech sýr (“cheese”), Slovak syr (“cheese”), Russian сырой (syroj, “raw”), Ukrainian сири́й (syrýj, “raw”), Old Church Slavonic сꙑръ (syrŭ, “moist, cheese”).