leave a bad taste in one's mouth

Idioms & Phrases

leave a bad taste in one's mouth

Make a lingering bad impression on one, as in The argument left a bad taste in my mouth, so after that I avoided talking politics. This expression transfers the bad taste left by consuming bitter or otherwise unpleasant food to a distasteful experience. [Mid-1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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