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# sour

«sour» in Mova's school dictionary: **Sour food has a sharp taste, like a lemon or vinegar** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (sour, sourer, sourest); verb (sour, sours, soured, souring)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Sour food has a sharp taste, like a lemon or vinegar. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#m1)

2) Milk turns sour when it goes bad. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#m2)

3) A sour person or mood is bad-tempered and unfriendly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#m3)

4) To sour means to become worse or less friendly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons sour is one of the basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami) and is caused by acids. In stories a sour face shows someone is cross. Phrases: «go sour», «turn sour», «sour cream», «sweet and sour», «sour grapes».

### examples

- Lemons taste very sour. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#x1)
- The milk has gone sour, so don't drink it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#x2)
- Sour sweets make my mouth tingle. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#x3)
- She gave me a sour look. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#x4)
- The game turned sour when they started cheating. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#x5)
- We had sweet and sour chicken for dinner. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#x6)
- Saying the prize was boring was just sour grapes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#x7)
- He next flew to the anemones; these were rather sour to his taste. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/#x8)

### note

Opposite of sweet. «Sour grapes» = pretending you did not want something you could not get. Sour milk smells bad; do not drink it. Sour taste comes from acids, like citric acid in lemons. Rhymes with «power».

### In the corpora

- [Milk left out on a warm table goes sour because bacteria multiply fast in warmth and make acid; the fridge slows them down.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/63-microbes-bacteria-and-viruses/17/)
- [That sharp, sour taste is the taste of an acid: lemons are full of citric acid.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/15-acids-in-the-kitchen/1/)
- [Acids are a big family of substances that taste sour and react with many things.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/15-acids-in-the-kitchen/2/)
- [Sour tastes come from acids; lemons contain citric acid, and sour sweets are dusted with acid powder that stings the tongue.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/15-acids-in-the-kitchen/8/)
- [Lick a lemon and it is sour; taste a tiny pinch of baking soda and it is bitter and soapy.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/16-alkalis-and-soda/0/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «sour» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sour/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.