applesauce
noun
Did you know?
English offers a smorgasbord of words for nonsense, some of which are better known as words for food. We have baloney, spinach, rhubarb, and toffee, not to mention full of beans. And if none of those offerings are to your taste, you can say that's pure banana oil! Seemingly innocuous applesauce was first introduced to this menu back in the early 20th century. Back then, there may have been some bias against the real stuff. Poet Wallace Stevens’s turn-of-the-century description of a meal consisting of "some unnameable smathering of greasy fritters . . . and of course the inevictable applesauce" shows a lack of respect that must have been shared by others.
Synonyms
- balderdash
- baloney
- boloney
- beans
- bilge
- blah
- blah-blah
- blarney
- blather
- blatherskite
- blither
- bosh
- bull [slang]
- bunk
- bunkum
- buncombe
- claptrap
- codswallop [British]
- crapola [slang]
- crock
- drivel
- drool
- fiddle
- fiddle-faddle
- fiddlesticks
- flannel [British]
- flapdoodle
- folderol
- falderal
- folly
- foolishness
- fudge
- garbage
- guff
- hogwash
- hokeypokey
- hokum
- hoodoo
- hooey
- horsefeathers [slang]
- humbug
- humbuggery
- jazz
- malarkey
- malarky
- moonshine
- muck
- nerts [slang]
- nonsense
- nuts
- piffle
- poppycock
- punk
- rot
- rubbish
- senselessness
- silliness
- slush
- stupidity
- taradiddle
- tarradiddle
- tommyrot
- tosh
- trash
- trumpery
- twaddle
Examples of applesauce in a Sentence
Berkeley Lovelace Jr., NBC News, 16 Apr. 2024
Similar to latkes or potato pancakes, matzo brei is often accompanied by a side of applesauce and/or sour cream.
—Liv Dansky, Southern Living, 8 Apr. 2024
Late in 2023, investigators working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found dangerous levels of lead in applesauce, likely stemming from a cinnamon spice grinder.
—Aaron Specht, The Conversation, 7 Mar. 2024
There’s a pork and applesauce take of moist roasted pork loin served with sauce made with apple butter, on a bed of buttery pureed potatoes and green beans with tiny pieces of strip bacon ($28).
—The Indianapolis Star, 27 Feb. 2024
What if someone ate recalled cinnamon applesauce with chromium?
—USA TODAY, 5 Jan. 2024
That’s far lower than the 2,000 to 5,000 parts per million detected in the ground cinnamon from Ecuador that contaminated the applesauce pouches.
—Jonel Aleccia, Quartz, 8 Mar. 2024
The agency conducted tests across the country after at least 460 children were sickened last year by illnesses linked to applesauce pouches.
—Detroit Free Press, 8 Mar. 2024
The agency has said cinnamon was the most likely source of the lead contamination in the applesauce pouches.
—Berkeley Lovelace Jr., NBC News, 7 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'applesauce.' 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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Cite this Entry
“Applesauce.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/applesauce. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.
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applesauce
noun
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