tree of knowledge of good and evil

American  

noun

1. the tree in the Garden of Eden bearing the forbidden fruit that was tasted by Adam and Eve. Genesis 2:17; 3:6–24.

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tree of knowledge of good and evil British  

noun

1. Old Testament the tree in the Garden of Eden bearing the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve ate, thus incurring loss of primal innocence (Genesis 2:9; 3:2–7)

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tree of knowledge of good and evil Cultural  

1. A tree in the Garden of Eden, the fruit of which God forbade Adam and Eve to eat.

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They did eat the forbidden fruit, and their disobedience brought about the Fall of Man.

Etymology

Origin of tree of knowledge of good and evil

First recorded in 1525–35

Example Sentences

Each holds a tantalizing apple, plucked from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 18, 2024

Genesis does not name the guilty fruit at all; it is merely "the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil."

From Time Magazine Archive

I ate, necessarily, of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil for the first time.

From Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie by Van Dyke, John Charles

God says to us, “Of all the trees of the garden p. 23thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat, lest thou die.”

From True Words for Brave Men by Kingsley, Charles

But the positive precept forbidding man to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, is inculcated in the very same terms in which the Covenant of God is enjoined.

From The Ordinance of Covenanting by Cunningham, John