applesauce
noun
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
Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY, 24 May 2024
More recently, lead was found in six brands of ground cinnamon spice and caused a recall of children's applesauce pouches in fall 2023.
—Devika Rao, theweek, 17 Apr. 2024
Potato pancakes and homemade applesauce complete the set.
—Rachel Bernhard, Journal Sentinel, 20 Feb. 2024
The manufacturer whose cinnamon applesauce pouches were infused with lead that sickened hundreds of children across the U.S. never conducted testing for heavy metals on the finished product, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found.
—Theresa Braine, New York Daily News, 24 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for applesauce 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'applesauce.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Applesauce.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/applesauce. Accessed 24 Jul. 2024.
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applesauce
noun
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