sour

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sour sour grapes an expression or attitude of deliberate disparagement of a desired but unattainable object, alluding to Aesop's fable of ‘The Fox and the Grapes’, in which a fox, unable to reach a tempting bunch of grapes, comforted himself with the reflection that the fruit was probably sour and was therefore no loss.

See also the grapes are sour.

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