bad apple

noun

plural bad apples

: someone who creates problems or causes trouble for others

They'll look for telltale signs that your broker's a bad apple: too much trading … or investments that are clearly too risky for someone like you.—

Daniel McGinn

often, specifically : a member of a group whose behavior reflects poorly on or negatively affects or influences the remainder of the group

As in many industries, this could well be a case of a few bad apples tarnishing the reputation of the rest. —

Ian Giles

One bad apple in the bunch can destroy the cohesiveness of the team. —

Do-It-Yourself Retailing

… that individual brings down the rest of the team. This is the "one bad apple spoils the whole bunch" theory in action. —

Shep Hyken

Most people will be able to recall a situation where the bad mood or negative attitude of a colleague affected their workplace. As the saying goes, one bad apple spoils the whole damn bunch. —

Rebecca Jordan

Examples of bad apple in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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The argument Lopez and Tabares are making — that undocumented immigrants who otherwise are law-abiding, productive residents of our city can be better protected from the coming federal crackdown if local law enforcement helps the feds identify the truly bad apples — is worth consideration. —

The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 14 Jan. 2025 Other cryptocurrency companies and industry associations have tried to dispel investor fears and dissuade regulatory authorities from cracking down, insisting that FTX was just one bad apple. —

Hilary Allen, Foreign Affairs, 5 Apr. 2023 The covering up of Till’s murder was not something that was perpetrated by a few bad apples. —

Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Nov. 2024 The company has repeatedly cast Kogan as a singularly bad apple, while the armchair sleuths of the internet have used his Russian heritage and research ties to St. Petersburg University to accuse him of being a Russian spy. —

Issie Lapowsky, WIRED, 19 June 2018 See all Example Sentences for bad apple