SOUR: Synonyms and Related Words. What is Another Word for SOUR?

Need another word that means the same as “sour”? Find 87 synonyms and 30 related words for “sour” in this overview.

The synonyms of “Sour” are: false, off-key, rancid, dark, dour, glowering, glum, moody, morose, saturnine, sullen, off, turned, acid, acidy, acidic, acidulated, tart, bitter, sharp, acetic, vinegary, pungent, acrid, biting, stinging, burning, smarting, unpleasant, distasteful, bad, gone bad, gone off, curdled, embittered, resentful, nasty, spiteful, irritable, irascible, peevish, fractious, fretful, cross, crabbed, crabby, crotchety, cantankerous, curmudgeonly, disagreeable, petulant, pettish, ferment, turn, work, acetify, acidify, acidulate, embitter, make bitter, make resentful, anger, exasperate, disillusion, disenchant, poison, envenom, disaffect, dissatisfy, frustrate, alienate, spoil, mar, damage, harm, impair, be detrimental to, wreck, upset, hurt, worsen, colour, blight, tarnish, acidity, sourness, tartness

Sour as a Noun

Definitions of "Sour" as a noun

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “sour” as a noun can have the following definitions:

• The property of being acidic.
• The taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth.
• A cocktail made of a liquor (especially whiskey or gin) mixed with lemon or lime juice and sugar.
• A drink made by mixing a spirit with lemon or lime juice.

Synonyms of "Sour" as a noun (3 Words)

acidity	The level of acid in the gastric juices, typically when excessive and causing discomfort. The increased acidity of rainfall.
sourness	The taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth.
tartness	A sharp sour taste.

Usage Examples of "Sour" as a noun

• A rum sour.

Sour as a Verb

Definitions of "Sour" as a verb

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “sour” as a verb can have the following definitions:

• Make or become sour.
• Make sour or more sour.
• Make or become unpleasant, acrimonious, or difficult.
• Go sour or spoil.

Synonyms of "Sour" as a verb (32 Words)

acetify	To subject to acetous fermentation in the manufacture of vinegar; to convert into vinegar.
acidify	Turn acidic. Pollutants can acidify surface water.
acidulate	Make slightly acidic. Add two or three bits of lemon peel to acidulate the water.
alienate	Arouse hostility or indifference in where there had formerly been love, affection, or friendliness. They defended the Masai against attempts to alienate their land.
anger	Fill someone with anger provoke anger in. She was angered by his terse answer.
be detrimental to	Have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun.
blight	Cause to suffer a blight. Some people complain that wind farms blight the landscape.
colour	Change the colour of something by painting dyeing or shading it. Surprise coloured her voice.
damage	Inflict damage upon. The car was badly damaged in the accident.
disaffect	Arouse hostility or indifference in where there had formerly been love, affection, or friendliness. What these ads do is disaffect the voting public.
disenchant	Free from enchantment. He may have been disenchanted by the loss of his huge following.
disillusion	Cause (someone) to realize that a belief they hold is false. If they think we have a magic formula to solve the problem don t disillusion them.
dissatisfy	Fail to satisfy. What is it about these words that dissatisfies you?
embitter	Make (someone) feel bitter or resentful. These injustices embittered her even more.
envenom	Add poison to. Tribal rivalries envenom the bitter civil war.
exasperate	Exasperate or irritate. This futile process exasperates prison officers.
ferment	Cause the fermentation of a substance. We ferment the grapes for a very long time to achieve high alcohol content.
frustrate	Treat cruelly. It frustrated me that more couldn t be done for her.
harm	Cause or do harm to. This could harm his World Cup prospects.
hurt	Hurt the feelings of. Does acupuncture hurt.
impair	Make worse or less effective. His vision was impaired.
make bitter	Represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like.
make resentful	Charge with a function; charge to be.
mar	Impair the quality or appearance of; spoil. Violence marred a number of New Year celebrations.
poison	Administer poison to a person or animal either deliberately or accidentally. The bombings poisoned the political atmosphere and deepened the social divide.
spoil	(of food) become unfit for eating. A series of political blunders spoilt their chances of being re elected.
tarnish	Make or become less valuable or respected. The silver was tarnished by the long exposure to the air.
turn	To break and turn over earth especially with a plow. We turned round and headed back to the house.
upset	Make (someone) unhappy, disappointed, or worried. The dam will upset the ecological balance.
work	Set to or keep at work. The political candidate worked the crowds.
worsen	Make or become worse. Her condition worsened on the flight.
wreck	Suffer or undergo shipwreck. An eye injury wrecked his chances of a professional career.

Usage Examples of "Sour" as a verb

• Many friendships have soured over borrowed money.
• Water soured with tamarind.
• A dispute soured relations between the two countries.
• The milk has soured.

Sour as an Adjective

Definitions of "Sour" as an adjective

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “sour” as an adjective can have the following definitions:

• Having a sharp biting taste.
• Inaccurate in pitch.
• Showing a brooding ill humor- Bruce Bli.
• Having a rancid smell.
• Smelling of fermentation or staleness.
• (of food, especially milk) having gone bad because of fermentation.
• One of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of vinegar or lemons.
• In an unpalatable state.
• Showing a brooding ill humor.
• Feeling or expressing resentment, disappointment, or anger.
• Having an acid taste like lemon or vinegar.
• (of petroleum or natural gas) containing a relatively high proportion of sulphur.
• (of soil) deficient in lime and usually dank.

Synonyms of "Sour" as an adjective (52 Words)

acetic	Of or like vinegar or acetic acid.
acid	Having the characteristics of an acid. The acid Bessemer process.
acidic	Relating to or denoting steel-making processes involving silica-rich refractories and slags. An acidic yellow.
acidulated	Slightly acidic. Use of acidulated fertilizers can lead to long term soil degradation.
acidy	Having the characteristics of an acid.
acrid	Harsh or corrosive in tone. Acrid smoke.
bad	Feeling physical discomfort or pain tough is occasionally used colloquially for bad. They want the baddest best looking Corvette there is.
biting	(of wind or cold) so cold as to be painful. A cream to ward off biting insects.
bitter	Proceeding from or exhibiting great hostility or animosity. Bitter words.
burning	Very keenly or deeply felt; intense. The burning question of independence.
cantankerous	Stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate- Spectator. He can be a cantankerous old fossil at times.
crabbed	Bad-tempered. His handwriting is crabbed and hideous.
crabby	Irritable. He was crabby at having his siesta interrupted.
cross	Extending or lying across in a crosswise direction at right angles to the long axis. Cross members should be all steel.
crotchety	Having a difficult and contrary disposition- Dorothy Sayers. He was tired and crotchety.
curdled	Transformed from a liquid into a soft semisolid or solid mass. Curdled milk.
curmudgeonly	(especially of an old person) bad-tempered and negative. A curmudgeonly old man.
dark	Of a person having dark skin hair or eyes. A dark secret.
disagreeable	Unpleasant to interact with. Aspects of his work are disagreeable to him.
distasteful	Causing dislike or aversion; disagreeable or unpleasant. Distasteful language.
dour	Showing a brooding ill humor. The proverbially dour New England Puritan.
embittered	Angry or resentful at having been treated unfairly. He died an embittered man.
false	Used in names of plants animals and gems that superficially resemble the thing properly so called e g false oat. False teeth.
fractious	Easily irritated or annoyed. Rockets were much too fractious to be tested near thickly populated areas.
fretful	Nervous and unable to relax. A constant fretful stamping of hooves.
glowering	Showing a brooding ill humor.
glum	Looking or feeling dejected; morose. A glum hopeless shrug.
gone bad	Well in the past; former.
gone off	No longer retained.
irascible	Quickly aroused to anger. An irascible and difficult man.
irritable	Easily irritated or annoyed. The seeds have been reputed to help conditions such as irritable bladder.
moody	Showing a brooding ill humor- Bruce Bli. Grainy film which gives a soft moody effect.
morose	Sullen and ill-tempered. She was morose and silent when she got home.
nasty	Exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent. Life has a nasty habit of repeating itself.
off	Located on the side of a vehicle that is normally furthest from the kerb offside. Even the greatest athletes have off days.
off-key	Inaccurate in pitch.
peevish	Easily irritated or annoyed. A thin peevish voice.
pettish	Easily irritated or annoyed. He comes across in his journal entries as spoiled and pettish.
petulant	(of a person or their manner) childishly sulky or bad-tempered. He was moody and petulant.
pungent	(of comment, criticism, or humour) having a sharp and caustic quality. The pungent smell of frying onions.
rancid	(used of decomposing oils or fats) having a rank smell or taste usually due to a chemical change or decomposition. Without preservatives fat goes rancid.
resentful	Full of or marked by resentment or indignant ill will. He was angry and resentful of their intrusion.
saturnine	(of a person or their features) dark in colouring and moody or mysterious. A saturnine temperament.
sharp	Ending in a sharp point. Her face was thin and her nose sharp.
smarting	Capable of independent and apparently intelligent action. Susan rubbed her smarting eyes.
spiteful	Showing or caused by malice. A truly spiteful child.
stinging	Characterized by a sharp tingling or burning sensation. A stinging pain.
sullen	(of the sky) full of dark clouds. A sullen crowd.
turned	(of a phrase or verse) expressed in a specified manner. The carefully turned words of great writers.
unpleasant	Offensive or disagreeable; causing discomfort or unhappiness. Unpleasant repercussions.
vinegary	Having a sour disposition; ill-tempered. The town s somewhat vinegary sheriff.

Usage Examples of "Sour" as an adjective

• The kitchen smelled of sour milk.
• A sour temper.
• She sampled the wine and found it was sour.
• Sour milk.
• A false (or sour) note.
• He gave her a sour look.
• The meeting ended on a sour note.
• Her breath was always sour.

Associations of "Sour" (30 Words)

acerbic	Harsh or corrosive in tone. An acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose.
acerbity	A sharp sour taste. Exuberance sharpened by blunt wit and acerbity.
acid	Having the characteristics of an acid. She didn t have a clue the sweet had acid in it.
acidic	Sharp-tasting or sour. A cocktail of acidic pollutants.
acidulous	(of a person’s remarks or tone) bitter; cutting.
acrid	Strong and sharp. An acrid smell.
appetizing	Appealing to or stimulating the appetite especially in appearance or aroma. The appetizing aroma of sizzling bacon.
bitter	Make bitter. Bitter cold.
bitterness	The property of having a harsh unpleasant taste. The lime juice imparts a slight bitterness.
curry	A pungent dish of vegetables or meats flavored with curry powder and usually eaten with rice. Curry tanned leather.
delicious	Variety of sweet eating apples. Delicious home baked brown bread.
ferment	Of a substance undergo fermentation. A period of political and religious ferment.
flavor	Lend flavor to.
flavour	A substance used to alter or enhance the taste of food or drink a flavouring. The yoghurt comes in eight fruit flavours.
lemon	A distinctive tart flavor characteristic of lemons. A lemon T shirt.
luscious	Appealing strongly to the senses; pleasingly rich. The luscious brush strokes and warm colours of these late masterpieces.
palatable	(of an action or proposal) acceptable or satisfactory. A device that made increased taxation more palatable.
pungency	Wit having a sharp and caustic quality. He commented with typical pungency.
pungent	(of comment, criticism, or humour) having a sharp and caustic quality. He has expressed some fairly pungent criticisms.
salt	Sprinkle as if with salt. After stuffing the fish I salted and peppered it.
salty	One of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of sea water. The bacon will be quite salty.
savor	Derive or receive pleasure from; get enjoyment from; take pleasure in. Savor the soup.
savory	Any of several aromatic herbs or subshrubs of the genus Satureja having spikes of flowers attractive to bees. A past that was scarcely savory.
spicy	Producing a burning sensation on the taste nerves. Pasta in a spicy tomato sauce.
sweet	Having a sweet nature befitting an angel or cherub. A very sweet nurse came along.
tangy	Having a strong, piquant flavour or smell. A tangy salad.
taste	Have flavor taste of something. It was his first taste of serious action.
tasty	Involving or good at fighting. A tasty morsel.
vinegar	Dilute acetic acid. Her aggrieved tone held a touch of vinegar.
zesty	Having an agreeably pungent taste.