# the apple of discord

idiom · CEFR C1

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/the-apple-of-discord
Updated: 2026-07-29

## Meaning

A small thing that causes a big argument or rivalry between people.

## Examples

- The old family clock became the apple of discord after their grandmother died.
- What should have been a simple budget meeting turned into the apple of discord that split the committee for months.
- The disputed strip of borderland, barely a few miles wide, had long been the apple of discord between the two nations, dragging every peace talk back into the same old quarrel.

## Origin

Every god and goddess had been invited to the wedding on Mount Olympus — every one, that is, but Eris, the spirit of strife, left off the guest list on purpose, since who wants quarrelling at a wedding? But a slighted goddess does not simply stay home and sulk. She came to the feast unseen, and she brought a single golden apple. Onto it she had scratched two small words — For the fairest — and she rolled it quietly into the middle of the hall, then slipped away to watch what it would do. Three goddesses reached for it at once. Hera, queen of the gods; Athena, wise in war; and Aphrodite, goddess of love — each certain the prize was meant for her, none willing to yield an inch. What began as a glance became a boast, and the boast swelled into an argument so bitter that even Zeus would not touch it. The choice was handed instead to a mortal shepherd named Paris, and his judgment set the whole world alight, for the apple's quarrel ran straight on to the ten-year war that burned the towers of Troy. One small golden fruit, and a wedding's joy curdled into a decade of ruin. We call a thing an apple of discord when it is exactly that: a small, tempting object that drops into the middle of a group and sets everyone in it at one another's throats.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.