Word.ws English Dictionary

how do you like them apples

how do you like them apples phrase: a question directed jestingly or mockingly at someone who has received surprising information, ridiculing or making light of the situation.

Phrase

how do you like them apples?

  1. (colloquial, rhetoric) A question directed jestingly or mockingly at someone who has received surprising information, ridiculing or making light of the situation.
    • "Our governor has just vetoed a bill that would offer more money to our schools. How do you like them apples?"
  2. (Ireland, US, colloquial, rhetoric) Used after an actual or proposed action with which the listener might be displeased, and also used after refuting an argument.
    • "I can't give you a raise now; if I did, this whole company would go bankrupt, and you wouldn't have a job at all. Now how do you like them apples?"

Forms of how do you like them apples

alternative formhow about them apples
alternative formhow's them apples

Origin of how do you like them apples

Unknown.

Questions about how do you like them apples

What does how do you like them apples mean?
How do you like them apples means a question directed jestingly or mockingly at someone who has received surprising information, ridiculing or making light of the situation.
What part of speech is how do you like them apples?
How do you like them apples is a phrase.

Words near how do you like them apples in the dictionary

  1. how do you do
  2. how do you do, fellow kids
  3. how do you dos
  4. how do you like
  5. how do you like that
  6. how do you like them apples
  7. how do you mean
  8. how do you pronounce this word
  9. how do you say … in English
  10. how do you sleep at night
  11. how do you spell this word

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: how do you like them apples (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-how do you like them apples.ogg.

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