Dictionary

worm in the apple en · NOUN

Meanings

1. A serious flaw in something otherwise good; a problem that ruins everything else.
   • The worms in the apple, of course, are Baby Boom liberals who latched on to the one institution they could control—the university. 2007, Leonard Steinhorn, The Greater Generation: In Defense of the Baby Boom Legacy, →ISBN:
   • In this witty satire Cheever, acting as both narrator and observer, seeks to find the Crutchman's fatal flaw, the “worm in the apple” that will bring them down to the level of everyone else. 2010, Kurt F. Stone, The Jews of Capitol Hill: A Compendium of Jewish Congressional Members, →ISBN:
   • The villain of this piece—the worm in the apple of Revolutionary antislavery—was white racism. 2011, John Craig Hammond, Matthew Mason, Contesting Slavery, →ISBN:

Forms

Synonyms

fly in the ointment