Bad apple

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person who is not wholesome, honest, or trustworthy, especially one who has an adverse influence on others. idiomatic, in-plural, often

    "Near-synonym: bad egg"

Synonyms

All synonyms
evilvarmints

Example

More examples

"There is one bad apple, and that is Katie, the beautiful prostitute with whom Catcher Bruce is in love. Unlike the cliche harlot of fiction, she is as short of compassion as Bruce is of IQ."

Etymology

From the proverb “one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch” (or a variant thereof).

Next best steps

Browse writing guidesExplore topic clusters