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 worthwhile trying for in the first place.

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Noun

sour grapes pl (plural only)

(literally) Grapes that are acid due to lacking maturity.
Synonyms: unripe grapes, green grapes, immature grapes
(idiomatic) Things that somebody pretends to despise because they cannot obtain or have.
(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)‎:
  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:
Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: בֻּסְרָא‎ (busrā), בּוּסְרָא‎ (busrā)
Classical Syriac: ܒܣܪܐ‎ (*busrā)
Armenian: ազոխ (hy) (azox), ժուռ (hy) (žuṙ)
Old Armenian: խակ խաղող (xak xałoł), ազոխ (azox)
Middle Armenian: ազոխ (azox), ժուռ (žuṙ)
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 m (ḥarṣā́n), בֹּסֶר‎ m (boser)
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: please add this translation if you can
Romanian: aguride, struguri acri, struguri verzi
Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can
Slovene: please add this translation if you can
Spanish: please add this translation if you can
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