apple
Americannoun
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apples
plural
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the usually round, red or yellow, edible fruit of a small tree, Malus sylvestris, of the rose family.
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the tree, cultivated in most temperate regions.
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the fruit of any of certain other species of tree of the same genus.
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any of these trees.
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any of various other similar fruits, or fruitlike products or plants, as the custard apple, love apple, May apple, or oak apple.
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Informal. anything resembling an apple in size and shape, as a ball, especially a baseball.
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Bowling. an ineffectively bowled ball.
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Slang. a red capsule containing a barbiturate, especially secobarbital.
noun
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a rosaceous tree, Malus sieversii , native to Central Asia but widely cultivated in temperate regions in many varieties, having pink or white fragrant flowers and firm rounded edible fruits See also crab apple
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the fruit of this tree, having red, yellow, or green skin and crisp whitish flesh
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the wood of this tree
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any of several unrelated trees that have fruits similar to the apple, such as the custard apple, sugar apple, and May apple See also love apple oak apple thorn apple
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a person or thing that is very precious or much loved
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a person with a corrupting influence
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of apple
First recorded before 900; Middle English appel, Old English æppel; cognate with Old Frisian, Dutch appel, Old Saxon apl, appul, Old High German apful ( German Apfel ), Crimean Gothic apel, from unattested Germanic aplu (akin to Old Norse epli, from unattested apljan ); Old Irish ubull (neuter), Welsh afal, Breton aval, from unrecorded pre-Celtic ǫblu; Lithuanian óbuolas, -ỹs, Latvian âbuol(i)s (with reshaped suffix), Old Prussian woble, perhaps Thracian (din)upla, (sin)upyla “wild pumpkin,” Old Church Slavonic (j)ablŭko (representing unrecorded ablŭ-ko, neuter), from unattested Balto-Slavic āblu-. Cf. Avalon
Explanation
An apple is a round fruit with red or green skin and a whitish inside. One variety of apple might be sweet, another sour. The apple isn't just a fruit. It's a symbol — from the apples eaten by Adam and Eve in the Biblical creation story, which symbolize the loss of innocent to the expression "American as apple pie" to mean something that is wholesome. The "apple of your eye" is the person who delights you — maybe you are the apple of your grandfather's eye. He might tell you, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," meaning the fruit is good for your health.
Vocabulary lists containing apple
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Effective altruism has shaped some donors' giving but has not "dramatically upset the apple cart," she said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026
There’s something about an apple orchard that’s just suffused with nostalgia, especially if the trees bear heirloom fruits.
From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2026
“The cultural significance of heirlooms—their story, weaved through generations of family grafting and genealogy—is all fine and dandy, but hasn’t science rendered these older apple varieties obsolete?”
From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2026
I never really managed to convince him or my husband of the activity’s magic, though the other day Joe brought up the barfing apple lady unbidden.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
It looked just like the magical apple tree in the trolls’ forest.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
"The most important thing is that the animals are comfortable," he said, "and well-fed" with plenty of apples and carrots.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
LA CROSSE, Wisconsin — September is both campaign season and parade season in Wisconsin, as communities across the state celebrate Oktoberfest and the harvest of fall crops like apples and pumpkins.
From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2026
I spent the summer watching farmers install showers for cows, watch their cauliflowers burn to a crisp in the heat, and search for apples in cider orchards reduced to a tenth of their normal crop.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
It’s a tempting comparison to make, but you’re not comparing apples to apples.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
Clearly, optimism can be a very fine trait, with the power to turn lemons into lemonade, apples into blackberries, and so forth.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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