apple of discord

plural apples of discord

1. An object or topic which sows anger and dissension; something which causes argument, rivalry, or strife.

   The apportionment of U.S. military assistance to Turkey and Greece has become an apple of discord almost as bitterly disputed by the recipients as the one Aphrodite received from Paris, which touched off the Trojan Wars.

   1992, Monteagle Stearns, “The 70 Percent Solution to Our Military Aid Dilemma”, in Entangled Allies: U.S. Policy toward Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus, New York, N.Y.: Council on Foreign Relations Press, →ISBN, page 40

   3 more examples

   He has determined to enter the cabinet surrounded with creatures only, and, as to the Parliament, to trust to his dexterity and strength in throwing the apple of discord, occasions for doing which will, he imagines, soon and frequently occur.

   1804 May 19, “Summary of Politics”, in William Cobbett, editor, Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, volume V, number 20, London: Printed by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street; published by Richard Bagshaw, Bow Street, Covent Garden; …, →OCLC, column 768

   He [Pope Pius VII] had hardly regained Rome when a domestic incident in the Bonaparte family became the immediate cause of that struggle between Pope and Emperor which only ended with the downfall of Napoleon's power. This apple of discord was the outraged honour of a Protestant girl, which the Holy Father maintained in the face of her angered Imperial brother-in-law.

   1875, Mary H[elen Agnes] Allies, “The Apple of Discord”, in The Life of Pope Pius the Seventh, London: Burns and Oates, Portman Street and Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 91

   As in the old days when the tribes were fighting each other over hunting grounds, territories and agricultural land, today DRC [the Democratic Republic of the Congo] is prone to many internal conflicts. Especially in the eastern part of the country today's apples of discord appear to be the much-coveted minerals such as gold, diamonds, coltan, and uranium.

   2008, Anthonie Th. Polet, “Between Expectations and Reality in the DRC: Opportunities for Cimic”, in Sebastiaan J. H. Rietjens, Myriame T. I. B. Bollen, editors, Managing Civil-Military Cooperation: A 24/7 Joint Effort for Stability (Military Strategy and Operational Art), Aldershot, Hampshire; Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, →ISBN, page 123

   Synonyms: golden apple