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low-hanging fruit

noun

  1. the fruit that grows low on a tree and is therefore easy to reach
  2. a course of action that can be undertaken quickly and easily as part of a wider range of changes or solutions to a problem

    first pick the low-hanging fruit

  3. a suitable company to buy as a straightforward investment opportunity
“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


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Example Sentences

“When we were looking at how we were going to organize the Hispanic vote, we kind of saw that the low-hanging fruit was Hispanic men. They are the most conservative by nature, but yet we vote at a record-low number.”

But there is some low-hanging fruit to dispense with.

From Slate

“In a very real way we’ve addressed a lot of the low-hanging fruit with medication reform, expanded veterinary examinations, more observation and things like that,” said Scott Chaney, executive director of the CHRB.

He added the first steps would be to try to tackle "low-hanging fruit" like online sales of blades, and stressed he had a personal interest.

From BBC

All I knew was “Avatar,” and the low-hanging fruit of “Avatar” is the James Cameron “Avatar.”

From Salon

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More About Low Hanging Fruit

What does low-hanging fruit mean?

Low-hanging fruit refers to a task that is easy to accomplish.

Low-hanging fruit can refer to actual fruit on trees that hangs from low branches, as in We let the kids pick the low-hanging fruit while we climbed the ladder to pick the ones higher up.

Most of the time, though, low-hanging fruit is used figuratively to mean a job that is easy to do or a goal that is easy to complete, as in Congress began the session by renaming the federal building after a national hero, a low-hanging fruit that received no opposition from anyone.

Low-hanging fruit is often used to compare a relatively easy task to a harder or more stressful task that also must be done. When you choose to do something easy, like making your bed, over something harder, like doing your homework, you can say you are “picking the low-hanging fruit.”

Example: The company saw an Asian expansion as low-hanging fruit because it wouldn’t face any competition in that market.

Where does low-hanging fruit come from?

The first records of the literal sense of low-hanging fruit come from 1859 in Adam Bede, a novel by George Eliot. The first records of the figurative sense of low-hanging fruit come from 1909, although it would begin to become especially popular during the 1980s. The figurative usage alludes to the fact that picking fruit from low branches is almost always much easier and faster than picking fruit from branches higher up.

The term low-hanging fruit is particularly common in the business world. It is often used to refer to such things as groups of customers that are easy to persuade or investors that are already interested in a business. A person or company that is going after the low-hanging fruit is focusing on easy tasks or goals first before worrying about difficult problems or goals that will take a lot of effort.

Did you know … ?

What are some synonyms for low-hanging fruit?

What are some words that share a root or word element with low-hanging fruit

What are some words that often get used in discussing low-hanging fruit?

How is low-hanging fruit used in real life?

Low-hanging fruit is a common phrase that refers to things that are easy to do.

Try using low-hanging fruit!

Is low-hanging fruit used correctly in the following sentence?

He is always looking for the easy way out so he will never miss the low-hanging fruit.

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