curdle

A practicing Mormon, Coppins had no previous experience with gambling but quickly learned how easily the “joyful naivete” of his initial use “could curdle into delusion and compulsion.”

From Slate ● May 5, 2026

Piercing and horrible, the screaming is pitched to curdle the listener’s blood but not, in this instance, to overwhelm the voice of the narrator.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025

As co-written by Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, the reunion between the two former acting buddies starts warm but quickly begins to curdle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2025

You must go slowly so cream does not curdle.

From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2023

His voice, the one that used to make me melt, sounded like it could curdle cream.

From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence

Hilarious and incisive, the humor never draws blood, never curdles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026

There may be an undercurrent of gossip, like the hints of discord between Affleck and Leavitt, but nothing that curdles our mood.

From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2025

I’ve seen it over and over in my practice: A gesture that is initially received with intense gratitude curdles into hurt or anger.

From Slate ● Mar. 23, 2025

It turns out you can pay a lot for the privilege of real-time “re-enactments,” and he does, commissioning a series of increasingly elaborate set pieces whose pursuit soon curdles into monomania.

From New York Times ● Jan. 13, 2024

“Shallow and self-absorbed. The change in appearance reveals the tragic side of that mind-set. Vanity curdles into misery. They become spiteful and jealous, wallowing in wretchedness.”

From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull

Against him stand those who think Britain's hostility to cooling has curdled into a type of masochism.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

And when the Bucks chose to send Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat instead, the Celtics’ dream scenario had suddenly curdled into a nightmare.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026

Even as investor sentiment has curdled, TD Cowen believes a sustained appetite for data-center spending could cause Vertiv’s customer orders to accelerate as soon as the fourth quarter.

From Barron's ● Dec. 1, 2025

Suede quickly dissociated from Britpop when it curdled into something the band couldn’t recognize; something that, to the group, resembled a kind of jingoism.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2025

The largest has curdled into a pillar like the cloud of tephra and ash and steam that billows atop an erupting volcano.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

“Admiration was quickly curdling into hostility,” he writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

He returned to a hometown that seemed to be developing under that same American planning influence whose reputation was curdling up north.

From Slate ● Dec. 22, 2024

The tagline — “What a guy! What a lug! What a hero! What a bum!” — illustrates the tentative truce between fans and umpires that is always, inevitably, one call from curdling.

From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2024

Then warm liquid from a broth or sauce is added slowly to the mixture to temper the eggs and prevent them from curdling.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 27, 2023

"No," Park said, anger and everything else curdling in his stomach.

From "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell