Rotten vs Sour - What's the difference?
rotten | sour |
Of perishable items, overridden with bacteria and other infectious agents.
In a state of decay.
Cruel, mean or immoral.
Bad or terrible.
To an extreme degree.
Having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste.
* Francis Bacon
Made rancid by fermentation, etc.
Tasting or smelling rancid.
Peevish or bad-tempered.
* Shakespeare
(of soil) Excessively acidic and thus infertile.
(of petroleum) Containing excess sulfur.
Unfortunate or unfavorable.
* Shakespeare
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=October 1
, author=Phil Dawkes
, title=Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom
, work=BBC Sport
The sensation of a sour taste.
A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.
(label) Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.
A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
(label) To make sour.
(label) To become sour.
* Jonathan Swift
(label) To make disenchanted.
* Shakespeare
(label) To become disenchanted.
(label) To make (soil) cold and unproductive.
To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.
As adjectives the difference between rotten and sour
is that rotten is of perishable items, overridden with bacteria and other infectious agents while sour is having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste.As an adverb rotten
is to an extreme degree.As a noun sour is
the sensation of a sour taste.As a verb sour is
to make sour.rotten
English
Adjective
(en-adj)- If you leave a bin unattended for a few weeks, the rubbish inside will turn rotten .
- The floors were damaged and the walls were rotten .
- His mouth stank and his teeth were rotten .
- That man is a rotten father.
- This rotten policy will create more injustice in this country.
- Why is the weather always rotten in this city?
- It was a rotten idea to take the boat out today.
- She has the flu and feels rotten .
Usage notes
* Nouns to which "rotten" is often applied: wood, food, egg, meat, fruit, tomato, apple, banana, milk, vegetable, stuff, tooth, smell, person, kid, bastard, scoundrel, weather.Adverb
(en adverb)- That kid is spoilt rotten .
- The girls fancy him something rotten .
Anagrams
* ----sour
English
Alternative forms
* (obsolete) sowrAdjective
(er)- All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite.
- (rfex)
- (rfex)
- He was a scholar / Lofty and sour to them that loved him not, / But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.
- (rfex)
- sour adversity
citation, page= , passage=The result may not quite give the Wearsiders a sweet ending to what has been a sour week, following allegations of sexual assault and drug possession against defender Titus Bramble, but it does at least demonstrate that their spirit remains strong in the face of adversity.}}
Noun
- (rfex)
- (rfex)
- (Edmund Spenser)
Derived terms
* laundry sourVerb
- So the sun's heat, with different powers, / Ripens the grape, the liquor sours .
- To sour your happiness I must report, / The queen is dead.
- (Mortimer)