upset the apple cart
upset the apple cart is the alternative form of upset the applecart.
Meaning of upset the applecart
Verb
upset the applecart (third-person singular simple present upsets the applecart, present participle upsetting the applecart, simple past and past participle upset the applecart)
- To disorganize or spoil something, especially an established arrangement or plan.
- “There are three reasons,” Trent answered. “First, he may find his way to England and upset the applecart; […]”1900, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 22, in A Millionaire of Yesterday
- Synonyms:
- cook someone's goose, drive a coach and horses through, ball up, blight, bumble, botch, bugger up, bungle, contaminate, corrupt
Forms of upset the apple cart
| third-person singular present | upsets the apple cart |
|---|---|
| present participle | upsetting the apple cart |
| past participle | upset the apple cart |
| past | upset the apple cart |
Questions about upset the apple cart
- What is upset the apple cart the alternative form of?
- Upset the apple cart is the alternative form of upset the applecart.
Words near upset the apple cart in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: upset the apple cart (page history and authors); upset the applecart (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “upset the apple cart.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/upset_the_apple_cart. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.