sour grapes
Meanings
noun
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see sour, grapes.
- Things that somebody pretends to despise because they cannot obtain or have them.
- A putting down or expression of disdain about something that one desires but cannot have.
Pronunciation
Word forms
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.
Related words
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