I don't want to alarm you, but

A phrase used before sharing bad news (which is stated after "but"). I don't want to alarm you, but the printer called about a few problems with our latest issue. I don't want to alarm you, but the dog has been limping around all day—I think we need to take him to the vet tonight. I don't want to alarm you, but the CEO is on the phone, and he wants to talk to you right now.

I don't want to upset you, but

A phrase used before sharing bad news (which is stated after "but"). I don't want to upset you, but the printer called about a few problems with our latest issue. I don't want to upset you, but the dog has been limping around all day—I think we need to take him to the vet tonight. I don't want to upset you, but the CEO is on the phone, and he wants to talk to you right now.

major upset

A game, contest, or election in which the winner's victory was highly unlikely or unexpected. The team, which had barely made the playoffs after a fairly middling season, pulled off a major upset against the three-time consecutive champions. The candidate's victory is a major upset, after every single poll in the lead-up to the election put her opponent well ahead of her.

upset (one's) applecart

To ruin or interfere with one's plans or goals. Look, he's not trying to upset your applecart or anything—he just needs to meet later in the day now, that's all. I had some ideas on how they could improve things, but I didn't want to upset their applecart this late in development.

See also: applecart, upset

upset (one's) plans

To ruin, thwart, or interfere with one's plans, intentions, or goals. These new regulations could upset our plans of expanding into the European market. I had always dreamed of moving to Japan to teach English, but the pregnancy upset my plans a bit.

upset the applecart

To ruin or interfere with one's plans or goals. Look, he's not trying to upset the applecart—he just needs to meet later in the day now, that's all.

See also: applecart, upset

I don't want to alarm you, but

and I don't want to upset you, but

an expression used to introduce bad or shocking news or gossip. Bill: I don't want to alarm you, but I see someone prowling around your car. Mary: Oh, goodness! I'll call the police! Bob: I don't want to upset you, but I have some bad news. Tom: Let me have it.

upset someone's plans

Fig. to ruin someone's plans. I hope it doesn't upset your plans if I'm late for the meeting. No, it won't upset my plans at all.

upset the apple cart

Fig. to mess up or ruin something. Tom really upset the apple cart by telling Mary the truth about Jane. I always knew he'd tell secrets and upset the apple cart.

upset the applecart

Spoil carefully laid plans, as in Now don't upset the applecart by revealing where we're going. This expression started out as upset the cart, used since Roman times to mean "spoil everything." The precise idiom dates from the late 1700s.

See also: applecart, upset

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

upset the applecart

If someone or something upsets the applecart, they do something which causes trouble or which spoils a satisfactory situation. It will only upset the applecart and confuse the issue if the topic is raised too soon. Note: You can also say that someone or something overturns the applecart. She still has the power to overturn the applecart by the sheer force of her personality and vocabulary.

See also: applecart, upset

upset the apple cart

wreck an advantageous project or disturb the status quo.

The use of a cart piled high with apples as a metaphor for a satisfactory but possibly precarious state of affairs is recorded in various expressions from the late 18th century onwards.

1996 Business Age The real test will be instability in China…Another Tiananmen Square could really upset the apple cart.

upset the/somebody’s ˈapple cart

(informal) do something that spoils a plan or stops the progress of something: Another, much cheaper hairdresser has opened next door, which has upset the apple cart.

upset the applecart, to

To ruin carefully laid plans. This metaphor, without the modifying “apple,” dates from Roman times. Both Plautus and Lucian used “You’ve upset the cart” to mean “You’ve spoiled everything.” Specifying “applecart” dates from the late eighteenth century, and the changed phrase is the one that survives. Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1796) suggests that “applecart” stood for the human body, and that the phrase meant to throw a person down, but that interpretation was either mistaken or the particular symbolism died out.