applesauce

noun

ap·​ple·​sauce ˈa-pəl-ˌsȯs 

1

: a relish or dessert made of apples stewed to a pulp and sweetened

2

slang : bunkum, nonsense

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

all that talk about taking up the farming life was just a lot of spoiled applesauce

Recent Examples on the Web

Children in 44 states had probable or confirmed cases of elevated blood lead levels after eating the applesauce pouches marketed for toddlers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. —Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 19 June 2024

Dollar Tree left tainted applesauce on shelves for months, FDA says Does cooling inflation mean credit card debt will become cheaper soon? —Alain Sherter, CBS News, 18 June 2024

Toast, bananas, and applesauce can soothe queasy bellies, too. —Lisa Milbrand, Parents, 13 June 2024

Recalled applesauce pouches that sickened more than 400 children across nearly all 50 states contained lead due to a single cinnamon processor, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday amidst an investigation into the recalled product. —Natalie Neysa Alund, The Courier-Journal, 12 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1672, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

applesauce

noun

ap·​ple·​sauce -ˌsȯs 

: a sauce or dessert made of sweetened stewed apples