crab apple
noun
: any of various wild or cultivated trees (genus Malus) that are cultivars or relatives of the cultivated apple and that produce small sour fruit
also
: the fruit
Examples of crab apple in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
As a result, what was originally a course built on farmland was crowded with crab apples, flowering cherries, blue spruces and loads and loads of pin oaks.
—
Brendan Quinn, New York Times, 14 June 2025
Gone were 10 crab apple trees that the late horticulturist’s Bunny Mellon had included in her transformation of the Rose Garden under former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s watchful eyes, which prompted much criticism.
—Rosemary Feitelberg, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
Fruit Trees This category includes crab apples and mulberry trees as well as orchard trees.
—Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 7 May 2025
In spring the central walkway becomes a riot of flowering crab apples and bare shoulders (I had been told), but now the kiosks were shuttered, the trees skeletal, the paths plowed but untrodden.
—Julia Whelan Emma Kehlbeck Jeremy McLennan, New York Times, 2 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for crab apple
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Brendan Quinn, New York Times, 14 June 2025
Gone were 10 crab apple trees that the late horticulturist’s Bunny Mellon had included in her transformation of the Rose Garden under former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s watchful eyes, which prompted much criticism.
—Rosemary Feitelberg, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
Fruit Trees This category includes crab apples and mulberry trees as well as orchard trees.
—Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 7 May 2025
In spring the central walkway becomes a riot of flowering crab apples and bare shoulders (I had been told), but now the kiosks were shuttered, the trees skeletal, the paths plowed but untrodden.
—Julia Whelan Emma Kehlbeck Jeremy McLennan, New York Times, 2 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for crab apple
Cite this Entry
“Crab apple.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crab%20apple. Accessed 6 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share