bad seed
US, Canadian and Australian informal a person who is seen as being congenitally disposed to wrongdoing and likely to be a bad influence on others
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
How to use bad seed in a sentence
In 1954, no one had met anyone like her, or the novel that contained her: ‘The bad seed.’
American Dreams: A Best-Selling Pint-Sized Psychopath | Nathaniel Rich | June 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe bad seed is the story of how Christine becomes aware that her daughter is, in modern terminology, a psychopath.
American Dreams: A Best-Selling Pint-Sized Psychopath | Nathaniel Rich | June 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe bad seed would ultimately sell more than a million copies, leading to a hit stage adaptation and an Oscar-nominated film.
American Dreams: A Best-Selling Pint-Sized Psychopath | Nathaniel Rich | June 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWe then spent a few minutes talking about wine categories that have been killed by one bad seed.
Sin spreads misery around it only when there is ground ready for the bad seed.
Cobwebs and Cables | Hesba Stretton
Treachery breeds treachery, duplicity is a bad seed to sow for loyalty, and the Manx people were divided in their allegiance.
The Little Manx Nation - 1891 | Hall CaineThe first year of Mossgiel, from buying bad seed, the second from a late harvest, he lost half his crops.
The World's Greatest Books, Vol X | VariousThose who preach, or teach, sow good or bad seed, which takes root in the mind or heart.
Young Folks' Bible in Words of Easy Reading | Josephine PollardThe Enemy seizes the opportunity—the carelessness of Christs servants—and sows bad seed.
Is the Devil a Myth? | C. F. Wimberly
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