rotten apples
Orchard's decayed produce
Rotten apples are apples that have decayed and become unfit to eat.
The phrase appears most often in the figurative sense of corrupt individuals within a group: a few rotten apples in the police department.
The full proverb—one rotten apple spoils the barrel—warns that corruption spreads, though the shortened form sometimes implies the opposite: that bad actors are isolated exceptions.
- troublemakersThose causing problems deliberately
- bad actorsHarmful or malicious participants
- spoiledRuined or overindulged
- corruptDishonest, open to bribes
- infestedOverrun by pests
decayed · malfeasance · moldy · tainted · bad eggs · putrid · betrayal · festering · contaminated · diseased · foul-smelling · dishonesty · decomposition · misconduct · fruits · bad influence · rot · sabotage
rotten applesgood eggs
Dependable, likable people
pillars of the community · team players · honest brokers · straight arrows · stand-up guys
rotten, apple, rotted, rotting, rottenness, rottenly, apples