apple
Americannoun
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the usually round, red or yellow, edible fruit of a small tree, Malus sylvestris, of the rose family.
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the tree, cultivated in most temperate regions.
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the fruit of any of certain other species of tree of the same genus.
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any of these trees.
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any of various other similar fruits, or fruitlike products or plants, as the custard apple, love apple, May apple, or oak apple.
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Informal. anything resembling an apple in size and shape, as a ball, especially a baseball.
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Bowling. an ineffectively bowled ball.
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Slang. a red capsule containing a barbiturate, especially secobarbital.
noun
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a rosaceous tree, Malus sieversii , native to Central Asia but widely cultivated in temperate regions in many varieties, having pink or white fragrant flowers and firm rounded edible fruits See also crab apple
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the fruit of this tree, having red, yellow, or green skin and crisp whitish flesh
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the wood of this tree
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any of several unrelated trees that have fruits similar to the apple, such as the custard apple, sugar apple, and May apple See also love apple oak apple thorn apple
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a person or thing that is very precious or much loved
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a person with a corrupting influence
Etymology
Origin of apple
First recorded before 900; Middle English appel, Old English æppel; cognate with Old Frisian, Dutch appel, Old Saxon apl, appul, Old High German apful ( German Apfel ), Crimean Gothic apel, from unattested Germanic aplu (akin to Old Norse epli, from unattested apljan ); Old Irish ubull (neuter), Welsh afal, Breton aval, from unrecorded pre-Celtic ǫblu; Lithuanian óbuolas, -ỹs, Latvian âbuol(i)s (with reshaped suffix), Old Prussian woble, perhaps Thracian (din)upla, (sin)upyla “wild pumpkin,” Old Church Slavonic (j)ablŭko (representing unrecorded ablŭ-ko, neuter), from unattested Balto-Slavic āblu-. Cf. Avalon
Explanation
An apple is a round fruit with red or green skin and a whitish inside. One variety of apple might be sweet, another sour. The apple isn't just a fruit. It's a symbol — from the apples eaten by Adam and Eve in the Biblical creation story, which symbolize the loss of innocent to the expression "American as apple pie" to mean something that is wholesome. The "apple of your eye" is the person who delights you — maybe you are the apple of your grandfather's eye. He might tell you, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," meaning the fruit is good for your health.
Vocabulary lists containing apple
Non-Color Words to Use When Describing Color
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Green
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Custard apple seemed to be a good fit.
From BBC • May 25, 2026
Anyone who has sliced an apple or peeled a banana has seen PPO in action.
From Science Daily • May 24, 2026
Today, the distillery continues to make applejack and apple brandy, as well a range of other spirits and related products.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026
But according to the New York Public Library, the kangaroo toy that inspired Roo "was lost in an apple orchard during the 1930s".
From BBC • Apr. 25, 2026
“Well, that’s no ordinary apple tree,” said Mard.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
