worm in the apple

English

Noun

worm in the apple (plural worms in the apple)

1. A serious flaw in something otherwise good; a problem that ruins everything else.
   • 2007, Leonard Steinhorn, The Greater Generation: In Defense of the Baby Boom Legacy, →ISBN:

     The worms in the apple, of course, are Baby Boom liberals who latched on to the one institution they could control—the university.

   • 2010, Kurt F. Stone, The Jews of Capitol Hill: A Compendium of Jewish Congressional Members, →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.

   • 2011, John Craig Hammond, Matthew Mason, Contesting Slavery, →ISBN:

     The villain of this piece—the worm in the apple of Revolutionary antislavery—was white racism.

Synonyms

• fly in the ointment