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

Which terrible warning had as little effect on Torfrida as other terrible warnings have on young folk, who are minded to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

From Hereward, the Last of the English by Kingsley, Charles

She has tasted of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

From Windyridge by Riley, W.

And it doesn't do for man to taste of the tree of knowledge of good and evil....

From War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf