curdle
Example Sentences
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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
Two Navy sailors, Jefferson Jones and his pal, Sink, have been adrift on a raft for 18 days, long enough for hunger to curdle into imagination.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2025
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
He haunted the house, making fresh milk curdle and stealing the bathroom soap.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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
Dr. Ash’s old-world affect tilts and curdles, his mien shifting from twinkly “Mad Men” gentility to something cooler and more menacing.
From New York Times ● May 25, 2023
You have read this strange and terrific story, Margaret; and do you not feel your blood congeal with horror, like that which even now curdles mine?
From "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley
Whey is a byproduct of cheese-making, left over after milk has curdled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
A decade in New York had promised stardom; by Christmas 2016, the promise had curdled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 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
His grief, long a catalyst for activism, has curdled into disillusionment.
From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2025
His face curdled like old milk as he looked at the great wooden stairs.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
I called Gao Shanwen back in 2019, early in Xi Jinping’s second term, when disappointment over Beijing’s failure to reform its state sector was curdling into something closer to alarm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 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
That queasy, curdling feeling has finally been conquered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2024
He screamed a blood curdling cry that echoed down the river.
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
Vocabulary lists containing curdle
A Culinary Vocabulary Sampler
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The Odyssey
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Out of the Dust
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