SOUR

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sour mean? 

• SOUR (noun)
  The noun SOUR has 3 senses:

1. a cocktail made of a liquor (especially whiskey or gin) mixed with lemon or lime juice and sugar

2. the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth

3. the property of being acidic

  Familiarity information: SOUR used as a noun is uncommon.

• SOUR (adjective)
  The adjective SOUR has 6 senses:

1. smelling of fermentation or staleness

2. having a sharp biting taste

3. one of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of vinegar or lemons

4. in an unpalatable state

5. inaccurate in pitch

6. showing a brooding ill humor

  Familiarity information: SOUR used as an adjective is common.

• SOUR (verb)
  The verb SOUR has 2 senses:

1. go sour or spoil

2. make sour or more sour

  Familiarity information: SOUR used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cocktail made of a liquor (especially whiskey or gin) mixed with lemon or lime juice and sugar

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("sour" is a kind of...):

cocktail (a short mixed drink)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sour"):

whiskey sour; whisky sour (a sour made with whiskey)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

sour; sourness; tartness

Hypernyms ("sour" is a kind of...):

gustatory perception; gustatory sensation; taste; taste perception; taste sensation (the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sour"):

acidity; acidulousness (the taste experience when something acidic is taken into the mouth)

Derivation:

sour (make sour or more sour)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The property of being acidic

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

acidity; sour; sourness

Hypernyms ("sour" is a kind of...):

taste property (a property appreciated via the sense of taste)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sour"):

acerbity; tartness (a sharp sour taste)

vinegariness; vinegarishness (a sourness resembling that of vinegar)

Derivation:

sour (make sour or more sour)

• SOUR (adjective)

Comparative: sourer   
Superlative: sourest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Smelling of fermentation or staleness

Synonyms:

rancid; sour

Similar:

ill-smelling; malodorous; malodourous; stinky; unpleasant-smelling (having an unpleasant smell)

Derivation:

sourness (the property of being acidic)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having a sharp biting taste

Similar:

acerb; acerbic; astringent (sour or bitter in taste)

acetose; acetous; vinegarish; vinegary (tasting or smelling like vinegar)

acid; acidic; acidulent; acidulous (being sour to the taste)

lemonlike; lemony; sourish; tangy; tart (tasting sour like a lemon)

subacid (slightly sour to the taste)

Also:

dry ((of liquor) having a low residual sugar content because of decomposition of sugar during fermentation)

soured (having turned bad)

tasty (pleasing to the sense of taste)

Antonym:

sweet (having or denoting the characteristic taste of sugar)

Derivation:

sourness (the property of being acidic)

Sense 3

Meaning:

One of the four basic taste sensations; like the taste of vinegar or lemons

Similar:

tasty (pleasing to the sense of taste)

Derivation:

sourness (the property of being acidic)

sourness (the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth)

Sense 4

Meaning:

In an unpalatable state

Synonyms:

off; sour; turned

Context example:

sour milk

Similar:

soured (having turned bad)

Derivation:

sourness (the property of being acidic)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Inaccurate in pitch

Synonyms:

false; off-key; sour

Context example:

her singing was off key

Similar:

inharmonious; unharmonious (not in harmony)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Showing a brooding ill humor

Synonyms:

dark; dour; glowering; glum; moody; morose; saturnine; sour; sullen

Context example:

a sullen crowd

Similar:

ill-natured (having an irritable and unpleasant disposition)

Derivation:

sourness (a sullen moody resentful disposition)

• SOUR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sour    ... he / she / it sours   
Past simple: soured   
Past participle: soured   
-ing form: souring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Go sour or spoil

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

ferment; sour; turn; work

Context example:

The cream has turned--we have to throw it out

Hypernyms (to "sour" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Verb group:

ferment; work (cause to undergo fermentation)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

souring (the process of becoming sour)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make sour or more sour

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

acetify; acidify; acidulate; sour

Hypernyms (to "sour" is one way to...):

change taste (alter the flavor of)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

sweeten (make sweeter in taste)

Derivation:

sour (the property of being acidic)

sour (the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth)

 Context examples 

Summerlee rejoined, however, with a sour smile, by saying that he understood that Millbank Prison had been pulled down.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Laurie took Amy to drive, which was a deed of charity, for the sour cream seemed to have had a bad effect upon her temper.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Her temper has been soured, remember, and ought not to be tried.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"Your stomach's sour. That's what's ailin' you. Swallow a spoonful of sody, an' you'll sweeten up wonderful an' be more pleasant company."

(White Fang, by Jack London)

In Berry it is the women that are sour, but the wines are rich.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Both Maria and Martin drank the sour new wine on empty stomachs, and it went swiftly to their heads.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Zilla relaxed her sour mouth long enough to sigh her satisfaction.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Joe was sourer than ever, and Sol-leks was unapproachable, blind side or other side.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

How could it be otherwise, when Helen, at all times and under all circumstances, evinced for me a quiet and faithful friendship, which ill-humour never soured, nor irritation never troubled?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)