apple

noun

ap·​ple ˈa-pəl 

often attributive

1

: the fleshy, usually rounded red, yellow, or green edible pome fruit of a usually cultivated tree (genus Malus) of the rose family

also : an apple tree compare crab apple

2

: a fruit (such as a star apple) or other vegetative growth (such as an oak apple) suggestive of an apple

Phrases

apple of one's eye

: one that is highly cherished

his daughter is the apple of his eye

Examples of apple in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Snow White is hunted and then poisoned by an apple; Hansel and Gretel are abandoned in the forest and captured by a witch, who imprisons them and fattens Hansel for her supper. —CNN Money, 17 Nov. 2025

Soluble fiber, found in oats, barley, beans, lentils, apples and citrus fruits, binds to cholesterol and helps remove it from the body. —Kelly McGreal, FOXNews.com, 17 Nov. 2025

Grapes are among America’s favorite fruits, ranking just behind bananas, berries and apples, according to the International Fresh Produce Association's list of the top 20 fruits and vegetables sold in the United States. —Daryl Austin, USA Today, 16 Nov. 2025

For steaming the grains to an ideal fluffy-stickiness, the Taiwanese electronics brand Tatung makes a beautiful, retro-chic, steely-shiny electric rice cooker ($250, also available in apple green and cheery red), which has remained virtually unchanged since the nineteen-sixties. —Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English appel, from Old English æppel; akin to Old High German apful apple, Old Irish ubull, Old Church Slavic ablŭko

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing apple

• Adam's apple
• apple butter
• apple-cheeked
• apple-knocker
• apple maggot
• apple-pie
• apple-polish
• apple scab
• (as) American as apple pie
• bad apple
• candy apple
• cedar-apple rust
• crab apple
• custard apple
• in apple-pie order
• lady apple
• love apple
• oak apple
• star apple
• sugar apple
• the apple of someone's eye
• thorn apple
• upset the apple cart

Rhymes for apple

• appal
• chapel
• dapple
• grapple
• pineapple

Kids Definition

apple

noun

ap·​ple ˈap-əl 

: a rounded fruit with a red, yellow, or green skin, firm white flesh and a seedy core

also : the tree of the rose family that bears this fruit

Medical Definition

apple

noun

ap·​ple ˈap-əl 

: the fleshy usually rounded and red, yellow, or green edible pome fruit of a tree (genus Malus) of the rose family

also : an apple tree