diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/k8s-apply.yml b/changelogs/fragments/k8s-apply.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e07acb48f36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/k8s-apply.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+minor_changes:
+  - 'Revert apply as the default of kubernetes modules such as k8s.  This
+    restores the 2.8 and previous behaviour as the default.  apply can still be
+    explicitly enabled https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/62661'
diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/k8s/raw.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/k8s/raw.py
index c8209928086..4c4fa370ebf 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/k8s/raw.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/k8s/raw.py
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class KubernetesRawModule(KubernetesAnsibleModule):
         argument_spec['wait_condition'] = dict(type='dict', default=None, options=self.condition_spec)
         argument_spec['validate'] = dict(type='dict', default=None, options=self.validate_spec)
         argument_spec['append_hash'] = dict(type='bool', default=False)
-        argument_spec['apply'] = dict(type='bool')
+        argument_spec['apply'] = dict(type='bool', default=False)
         return argument_spec
 
     def __init__(self, k8s_kind=None, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -123,12 +123,10 @@ class KubernetesRawModule(KubernetesAnsibleModule):
         if self.params['merge_type']:
             if LooseVersion(self.openshift_version) < LooseVersion("0.6.2"):
                 self.fail_json(msg=missing_required_lib("openshift >= 0.6.2", reason="for merge_type"))
-        if self.params.get('apply') is not None:
+        self.apply = self.params.get('apply', False)
+        if self.apply:
             if not HAS_K8S_APPLY:
                 self.fail_json(msg=missing_required_lib("openshift >= 0.9.2", reason="for apply"))
-            self.apply = self.params['apply']
-        else:
-            self.apply = HAS_K8S_APPLY
 
         if resource_definition:
             if isinstance(resource_definition, string_types):
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/clustering/k8s/k8s.py b/lib/ansible/modules/clustering/k8s/k8s.py
index 9008af767f1..e61b29b874b 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/clustering/k8s/k8s.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/clustering/k8s/k8s.py
@@ -142,7 +142,6 @@ options:
     - C(apply) compares the desired resource definition with the previously supplied resource definition,
       ignoring properties that are automatically generated
     - C(apply) works better with Services than 'force=yes'
-    - C(apply) defaults to True if the openshift library is new enough to support it (0.9.0 or newer)
     - mutually exclusive with C(merge_type)
     type: bool
     version_added: "2.9"