sour grapes

English

Etymology

From Aesop's fable The Fox and the Grapes, in which a fox, unable to reach grapes it is seeking, convinces itself that they must have been unripe (therefore, sour) all along and so not worth trying for in the first place.

Pronunciation

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Noun

sour grapes pl (plural only)

1. (literally) Grapes that have an acidic taste, usually because they are unripe.

   Synonyms: unripe grapes, green grapes, immature grapes

2. (idiomatic) Things that somebody pretends to despise because they cannot obtain or have them.
3. (idiomatic) A putting down or expression of disdain about something that one desires but cannot have.

   I think his comments about that new car are just sour grapes because he can't afford it.

   • 2010, Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, chapter 2, in Merchants of Doubt:

     Despite the egos of individual scientists, the jealousies and the sour grapes, science had worked pretty much the way it was supposed to.

   • 2018 May 26, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London)‎^[1]:

     His absence was a grievous setback for Liverpool, who had looked the more dangerous team until that point, and it would not be sour grapes for the losers to think that was the moment the game started to swing away from them.

Translations

acid grapes

• Albanian: gresë (sq) m
• Arabic: حِصْرِم m (ḥiṣrim)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܒܣܪܐ (*busrā)

  Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: בֻּסְרָא (busrā), בּוּסְרָא (busrā)

• Armenian: ազոխ (hy) (azox), ժուռ (hy) (žuṙ)

  Middle Armenian: ազոխ (azox), ժուռ (žuṙ)

  Old Armenian: խակ խաղող (xak xałoł), ազոխ (azox)

• Azerbaijani: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: agrassos m
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: raa’at viinirypäleet pl
• French: please add this translation if you can
• Friulian: please add this translation if you can
• German: saure Traube f, unreife Traube f, Herling m (particularly those of late season)
• Greek: αγουρίδα (el) f (agourída)

  Ancient: ὄμφᾰξ f (ómphax)

• Hebrew: חַרְצָן (he) m (ḥarṣā́n), בֹּסֶר m (boser)
• Hindi: खट्टे अंगूर m (khaṭṭe aṅgūr)
• Italian: uva acerba f
• Kazakh: please add this translation if you can
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: cûr (ku), jûr (ku)

• Laz: კოხა (ǩoxa)
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Old Church Slavonic: отрочьникъ m (otročĭnikŭ)
• Persian: غوره (fa) (ğure)
• Portuguese: uvas verdes f pl
• Romanian: aguride, struguri acri, struguri verzi
• Russian: ки́слый виногра́д m (kíslyj vinográd)
• Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can
• Slovene: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: uvas verdes f pl
• Swedish: please add this translation if you can
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: koruk (tr)
• Venetian: agresta

expression of disdain for something one cannot have

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 酸葡萄 (zh) (suānpútao)

• Danish: sure rønnebær
• Finnish: happamia, sanoi kettu pihlajanmarjoista
• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} მკვახე ყურძენი (mḳvaxe q̇urʒeni)
• Greek: ^{(please verify)} αγουρίδες (el) f pl (agourídes)
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} ענבים חמוצים m pl
• Hindi: खट्टे अंगूर m (khaṭṭe aṅgūr)
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} savanyú a szőlő
• Icelandic: þau eru súr, sagði refurinn
• Irish: silíní searbha m pl (literally “sour cherries”)
• Japanese: 負け惜しみ (ja) (makeoshimi)
• Macedonian: кисело е грозјето (kiselo e grozjeto)
• Polish: kwaśne winogrona n pl
• Portuguese: dor de cotovelo (pt) f (colloquial)
• Romanian: struguri acri m pl
• Russian: зе́лен виногра́д m (zélen vinográd), за́висть (ru) f (závistʹ), притво́рное равноду́шие n (pritvórnoje ravnodúšije)
• Swedish: surt sa räven (sv)
• Welsh: cig cas yw cig coch

See also

• accismus
• verjuice
• backward rationalization