bad apple

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

bad apple (plural bad apples)

1. (idiomatic, often in the plural) A person who is not wholesome, honest, or trustworthy, especially one who has an adverse influence on others.
   • 1956 March 19, “Echoing Ring (book review of Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris)”, in Time‎^[1], archived from the original on 2012-03-11:

     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.

   • 2003 October 5, Steven Greenhouse, “Unions See Politics in New Disclosure Rules”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     While most union leaders are people of integrity, there are still bad apples.

   • 2006 January 27, Jeff Madrick, “Wall Street: More than few bad apples”, in New York Times‎^[3]:

     If anyone still harbors the fantasy that the business scandals of the past few years were the handiwork of just a few bad apples, they should read John Bogle's "Battle for the Soul of Capitalism."

Synonyms

• rotten apple

Derived terms

• bad appling

Translations

person who is not wholesome

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 害群之馬／害群之马 (zh) (hàiqúnzhīmǎ), 老鼠屎 (lǎoshǔshǐ)

• Dutch: rotte appel m
• Finnish: mätämuna (fi)
• French: mauvaise graine (fr) f
• German: schwarzes Schaf (de) n, Unheilstifter (de) m, fauler Apfel m, faules Ei n
• Hindi: गंदी मछली f (gandī machlī) (dirty fish)
• Italian: mela marcia f
• Japanese: 癌 (ja) (がん, gan) (cancer)
• Polish: czarna owca (pl) f
• Portuguese: maçã podre (pt) f
• Romanian: poamă rea f
• Russian: парши́вая овца́ f (paršívaja ovcá) (scabby sheep)
• Scottish Gaelic: droch-isean m
• Slovak: čierna ovca
• Spanish: manzana podrida f, mal elemento m, oveja negra (es) f, garbanzo negro (es) m
• Swedish: (rotten egg) ruttet ägg, rötägg (sv) n

See also

• bad egg

Further reading

• “bad apple”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.