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Rotten vs Sour - What's the difference?

rotten | sour |

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)
  • Of perishable items, overridden with bacteria and other infectious agents.
  • If you leave a bin unattended for a few weeks, the rubbish inside will turn rotten .
  • In a state of decay.
  • The floors were damaged and the walls were rotten .
    His mouth stank and his teeth were rotten .
  • Cruel, mean or immoral.
  • That man is a rotten father.
    This rotten policy will create more injustice in this country.
  • Bad or terrible.
  • 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)
  • To an extreme degree.
  • That kid is spoilt rotten .
    The girls fancy him something rotten .

    Anagrams

    * ----

    sour

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (obsolete) sowr

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • All sour things, as vinegar, provoke appetite.
  • Made rancid by fermentation, etc.
  • (rfex)
  • Tasting or smelling rancid.
  • (rfex)
  • Peevish or bad-tempered.
  • * Shakespeare
  • He was a scholar / Lofty and sour to them that loved him not, / But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.
  • (of soil) Excessively acidic and thus infertile.
  • (of petroleum) Containing excess sulfur.
  • (rfex)
  • Unfortunate or unfavorable.
  • * Shakespeare
  • sour adversity
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 1 , author=Phil Dawkes , title=Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom , work=BBC Sport 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

  • The sensation of a sour taste.
  • (rfex)
  • A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.
  • (rfex)
  • (label) Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.
  • A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
  • (Edmund Spenser)

    Derived terms

    * laundry sour

    Verb

  • (label) To make sour.
  • (label) To become sour.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • So the sun's heat, with different powers, / Ripens the grape, the liquor sours .
  • (label) To make disenchanted.
  • * Shakespeare
  • To sour your happiness I must report, / The queen is dead.
  • (label) To become disenchanted.
  • (label) To make (soil) cold and unproductive.
  • (Mortimer)
  • To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.
  • Anagrams

    * ----