bad apple

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noun Informal.

a discontented, troublemaking, or dishonest person: In any group of average citizens there are bound to be a few bad apples.

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Origin of bad apple

From the proverb “one bad apple spoils the barrel”

Words nearby bad apple

bada-bing, bad actor, Badajoz, Badakhshan, Badalona, bad apple, Badarian, badass, Badb, bad bank, bad blood

How to use bad apple in a sentence

If law enforcement has only a few bad apples that need to be rooted out, I want to see the good ones.
Derek Chauvin’s Guilty and So Is the Whole Damn System|Goldie Taylor|April 20, 2021|The Daily Beast
Like there’s no way to look at this and not say that there isn’t kind of a systemic set of issues, including what feels like not one or two bad apples but a lot of bad apples.
Houston’s Police Chief on How to Stop ‘Lawful but Awful’ Policing|Joshua Eferighe|September 30, 2020|Ozy
I used to always say the few bad apples, and I just had a conversation about 30 minutes ago with some of my chiefs about, some of the guys are mad because you’re saying we don’t just have a few bad apples, that we have bushels of apples.
Houston’s Police Chief on How to Stop ‘Lawful but Awful’ Policing|Joshua Eferighe|September 30, 2020|Ozy
However, I do not believe that there are enough bad apples to say that there is a problem in policing.
Full Transcript: Tomi Lahren on ‘The Carlos Watson Show’|Daniel Malloy|August 31, 2020|Ozy

I know far too many officers, and I also know from officers that the worst thing that can happen in the police force is a bad apple.
Full Transcript: Tomi Lahren on ‘The Carlos Watson Show’|Daniel Malloy|August 31, 2020|Ozy
Leapolitan responded by saying, “hopefully youll [sic] bite into a poison apple.”
Grindr’s Trans Dating Problem|David Levesley|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
We need to recover and grow the idea that the proper answer to bad speech is more and better speech.
How the PC Police Threaten Free Speech|Nick Gillespie|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I gotta say—I think this past year was pretty bad for music.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Ass-kicking, bad guy-killing Carter is just a future spinster.
Marvel’s ‘Agent Carter’ Stomps on the Patriarchy|Melissa Leon|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
They all immediately dashed out to their car to catch the bad guys.
Shot Down During the NYPD Slowdown|Michael Daly|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The "bad form" of telling a lie to the head-master is a later illustration of the same thing.
Children's Ways|James Sully
The men arrived in very bad condition, and many of them blinded with the salt water which had dashed into their eyes.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624|Various
Their sin began on Holy Thursday, with so little secrecy and so bad an example, that the affair was beginning to leak out.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624|Various
Conditions in the new country had gone from bad to worse, and if the season should experience another drought, the worst was come.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
If any one has lost his temper, as well as his money, he takes good care not to show it; to do so here would be indeed bad form.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills