sour
4
6.5
- adjective
- /saʊər/
:
desafinado
- Last week, at the performance of Carmen, I played a sour note.
- a sour note
Examples
-
Joe, you're playing a lot of sour notes on that piano.
-
Yeah, the last time, I remember a few sour notes.
-
I suppose any note, no matter how sour, sounds like a song...
-
Something sweet in the music had suddenly gone sour.
Fiction book (2002) -
Sour notes are always easy to hear should one be so inclined.
Academic text (2003) -
But then my notes turned somewhat sour as the first of many, many info dumps began.
Blog text (7) -
Kent echoed, sounding a sour note.
Fiction book (1996) -
Realizing the distance between her and Yellow Calf, Shelley also withdraws, and the evening ends on a sour note.
Academic text (1994) -
Astonished, Peter Senior grinned, but the grin rang sour.
Fiction book (2001) -
Joe's performance was disappointing because he kept hitting sour notes during the song.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Idioms
Compounds
34
1.0
A thick white food made from milk with a slightly sour taste used as a topping or in cooking
- Specialized
2
7.4
A way of making whiskey using part of a previous batch to start the next one
- Specialized
1
7.2
People add some mash from an earlier batch when making whiskey to keep the same flavor
1
5.0
A tree that makes bitter oranges used as root for other orange trees and for marmalade
Bread made with a mixture of flour and water that has natural yeast, giving a tangy taste
- US
A tree that loses its leaves in autumn and has bright red leaves and small blue berries
- South African
A low plant from South Africa with thick leaves that makes small edible fruit
- Specialized
A group of related trees that make flowers and fruit, like the sour gum tree
How In Tune
Surface Forms
Etymology
Sour (music) is a figurative use of Old English sūr meaning 'sharp' or 'acid', so a 'sour' note is a sound that feels wrong or unpleasant, like a taste that does not agree with you.