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Savory vs Sour - What's the difference?

savory | sour |

As adjectives the difference between savory and sour

is that savory is tasty, attractive to the palate while sour is having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste.

As nouns the difference between savory and sour

is that savory is a savory snack while sour is the sensation of a sour taste.

As a verb sour is

to make sour.

savory

English

(wikipedia savory)

Alternative forms

* savoury (British)

Etymology 1

From the (etyl) savoure, from savourer, from (etyl) saporare, from sapor

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Tasty, attractive to the palate.
    • The fine restaurant presented an array of savory dishes; each was delicious.
  • Salty or non-sweet.
    • The mushrooms, meat, bread, rice, peanuts and potatoes were all good savory foods.
  • Not overly sweet.
    • The savory duck contrasted well with the sweet sauce.
  • (figuratively) Morally or ethically acceptable.
    • Readers are to be warned that quotations in this chapter contain some not so savory language.
    Synonyms
    * See also

    Noun

    (savories)
  • A snack.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2007, date=April 18, author=Florence Fabricant, title=Off the Menu, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=P*ONG On Friday the pastry chef Pichet Ong will open his own cafe, with sweets and savories served at tables and a counter. }}

    Etymology 2

    (Satureja) Possibly from (etyl) saetherie, from (etyl) satureia, influenced by or via (etyl) savereie

    Noun

    (savories)
  • Any of several Mediterranean herbs, of the genus , grown as culinary flavourings.
  • The leaves of these plants used as a flavouring.
    • Derived terms
    * summer savory * winter savory

    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

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