sour grapes

US: /ˈsaʊr ˈgreɪps, saʊɚ/

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

sour grapes /ˈsaʊr ˈgreɪps, saʊɚ/  n. [plural]

1. pretended dislike for something one wants but does not have.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

sour′ grapes′, 

1. pretended disdain for something one does not or cannot have:
   She said that she and her husband didn't want to join the club anyway, but it was clearly sour grapes.

• in allusion to Aesop's fable concerning the fox who, in an effort to save face, dismissed as sour those grapes he could not reach 1750–60

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

sour grapes noun

1. (functioning as singular) the attitude of affecting to despise something because one cannot or does not have it oneself

Etymology: from a fable by Aesop