leave a sour taste in one's mouth

Verb

leave a sour taste in one's mouth (third-person singular simple present leaves a sour taste in one's mouth, present participle leaving a sour taste in one's mouth, simple past and past participle left a sour taste in one's mouth)

1. (idiomatic) To give one an unpleasant feeling or memory.
   • But after having been employed for her "entire adult life," her experience of being uninsured leaves a sour taste in her mouth.2007 July, Hilary Beard, “Surviving the Health Insurance Crisis”, in Ebony, page 140
   • Some volunteers might opt to stay on in Zambia by other means, but the General election had left a sour taste in my mouth and I was ready to go.2011, Mark Burke, Glimmers of Hope: Memoir of a Volunteer in Africa, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 307