How to Use bad apple in a Sentence

bad apple

noun
  • There wasn’t a bad apple in the bunch.
    — Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 12 Oct. 2025
  • The old adage says that one bad apple can spoil the bunch.
    — Holly Corbett, Forbes.com, 22 May 2026
  • The gym is a big place with lots of people, so don’t let one bad apple spoil the bunch.
    — Annie Lane, Anchorage Daily News, 14 June 2023
  • There are a few really bad apples out there.
    — Cara Lynn Shultz, PEOPLE, 14 Oct. 2025
  • Sure, there are bad apples here and there, no doubt, but give credit where credit is due.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 4 July 2025
  • Early on, says the owner, a few bad apples booked but never showed.
    — Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 19 Jan. 2024
  • The modern muzzleloaders proved there isn’t a bad apple in the bunch.
    — Brad Fenson, Outdoor Life, 1 Nov. 2023
  • Boots works hard to insist that while there might be a few bad apples along the way, there’s noble work to be done in the armed forces.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Think of it as the difference between one bad apple versus one bad barrel.
    — Lindsay Kohler, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
  • The scale of the scandal in Minnesota can’t be dismissed as a few bad apples.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
  • These boundary-pushing developments aren’t just the work of a few bad apples.
    — Dov Fox, Foreign Affairs, 25 Apr. 2022
  • There were bad apples in every profession, including finance, but why tear it all down?
    — Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2023
  • Please publish the good news about SSA and stop highlighting the few bad apples.
    — Tom Margenau, Dallas News, 16 July 2023
  • Other crypto companies seem to think that picking out the one bad apple will be good for the rest of the industry.
    — Emma Roth, The Verge, 4 Nov. 2023
  • Funeral directors stress in the series that Sconce was a bad apple.
    — Olivia B. Waxman, Time, 2 June 2025
  • While every profession has bad apples, one bad review shouldn’t spoil the entire basket.
    — Alvina Lo, Forbes, 10 Sep. 2024
  • Unfortunately, a few bad apples ruin the whole bunch.
    — Devika Rao, TheWeek, 20 Apr. 2026
  • These undead cells, called senescent cells, stick around and give off toxic substances that can harm the healthy cells around them—like the one bad apple that spoils the whole bunch.
    — Sonya Collins, Fortune Well, 23 Feb. 2023
  • Besides, if one bad apple can spoil the whole barrel, then just imagine the good that Maria could do by removing it from the rest of the bunch.
    — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 7 Sep. 2025
  • 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
  • This kind of online behavior turns people away from new interests, which is bad for them but worse for the group that can’t grow because of a few bad apples.
    — oregonlive, 5 Sep. 2023
  • The aim would be to do some form of entirely rigorous testing of the code that could exhaustively assure us that there isn’t a bad apple in there.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 3 June 2025
  • How do bad apples like the Rick Singers and Lori Loughlins of the world affect everyone else?
    — The Editors, Town & Country, 3 Aug. 2023
  • One bad apple becomes two, then four and before long, toxicity becomes culture.
    — David Meade, Forbes.com, 4 June 2025
  • Early on, these doctors-cum-criminal-profilers explained bad apples through theories such as atavism.
    — WIRED, 21 Feb. 2023
  • The aim is to create a healthier, fairer and professional work environment, because one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.
    — Nancy Pulciano, Rolling Stone, 23 Sep. 2025
  • High-end options for group tours in small-town New Zealand can be limited, but there are no bad apples in this accommodation bunch.
    — Steve Madgwick, Travel + Leisure, 18 June 2026
  • In other words, lumping together all such pursuits as bad apples is unfair and exasperating.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 4 July 2025
  • Potential officers who want to do good work in the community might not apply, while those few bad apples who abuse their authority might be more inclined to do so.
    — New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 29 June 2024
  • Having a regulatory framework gives the industry a broad rubber stamp to keep chugging along now that the rules are clearer and the few bad apples have been rooted out.
    — Whizy Kim, Vox, 13 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bad apple.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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