"bad seed" meaning in All languages combined

See bad seed on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: bad seeds [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|-|s}} bad seed (usually uncountable, plural bad seeds)
  1. A genetic source of bad behavior or other negative results. Tags: uncountable, usually
    Sense id: en-bad_seed-en-noun-973Un1-I Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 55 45
  2. A bad apple: a bad person who negatively influences others. Tags: uncountable, usually
    Sense id: en-bad_seed-en-noun-P6ublYL7 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 55 45 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 37 63 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 25 75
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: bad news, one bad apple can spoil the barrel, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, hellspawn

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bad seeds",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "bad seed (usually uncountable, plural bad seeds)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "46 54",
      "word": "bad news"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "46 54",
      "word": "one bad apple can spoil the barrel"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "46 54",
      "word": "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "46 54",
      "word": "hellspawn"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "55 45",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              2,
              10
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1533, Paracelsus, Paracelsus: Essential Readings, translation of Liber Prologi in Vitam Beatam by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, published 1999, page 147:",
          "text": "A bad seed produces a bad tree and in due course bad fruit, and a good seed produces a good tree and good fruit.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              95,
              103
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2001, Victor Groza with Karen F. Rosenberg, Clinical and Practice Issues in Adoption, page 7:",
          "text": "In families that insist the child is different, the myth that prevails and perpetuates is the \"bad seed theory.\" This becomes easier for families to do when the kids behave poorly and the only information they receive about the biological family are its problems and dysfunction",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              36,
              44
            ],
            [
              93,
              101
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2003, Colin Channer, Waiting in Vain, page 256:",
          "text": "\"Listen, some people just come from bad seed.\" Mr. Heath shook his head. ... \"If Ian is from bad seed, though, is from the mother, not the father",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              135,
              143
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2020 May 7, Katie Rife, “If you’re looking to jump in your seat, make a playdate with Z”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 16 May 2020:",
          "text": "if you’re looking to turn out all the lights, pull a blanket up under your chin, and jump several inches off your couch, there’s a new bad-seed thriller to adopt today.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A genetic source of bad behavior or other negative results."
      ],
      "id": "en-bad_seed-en-noun-973Un1-I",
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "55 45",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "37 63",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "25 75",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A bad apple: a bad person who negatively influences others."
      ],
      "id": "en-bad_seed-en-noun-P6ublYL7",
      "links": [
        [
          "bad apple",
          "bad apple"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "bad seed"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bad seeds",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "bad seed (usually uncountable, plural bad seeds)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "bad news"
    },
    {
      "word": "one bad apple can spoil the barrel"
    },
    {
      "word": "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree"
    },
    {
      "word": "hellspawn"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              2,
              10
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1533, Paracelsus, Paracelsus: Essential Readings, translation of Liber Prologi in Vitam Beatam by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, published 1999, page 147:",
          "text": "A bad seed produces a bad tree and in due course bad fruit, and a good seed produces a good tree and good fruit.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              95,
              103
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2001, Victor Groza with Karen F. Rosenberg, Clinical and Practice Issues in Adoption, page 7:",
          "text": "In families that insist the child is different, the myth that prevails and perpetuates is the \"bad seed theory.\" This becomes easier for families to do when the kids behave poorly and the only information they receive about the biological family are its problems and dysfunction",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              36,
              44
            ],
            [
              93,
              101
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2003, Colin Channer, Waiting in Vain, page 256:",
          "text": "\"Listen, some people just come from bad seed.\" Mr. Heath shook his head. ... \"If Ian is from bad seed, though, is from the mother, not the father",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              135,
              143
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2020 May 7, Katie Rife, “If you’re looking to jump in your seat, make a playdate with Z”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 16 May 2020:",
          "text": "if you’re looking to turn out all the lights, pull a blanket up under your chin, and jump several inches off your couch, there’s a new bad-seed thriller to adopt today.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A genetic source of bad behavior or other negative results."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A bad apple: a bad person who negatively influences others."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "bad apple",
          "bad apple"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "bad seed"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-02 using wiktextract (6fdc867 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.