sitting duck

American  

noun

1. a helpless or easy target or victim.

   a sitting duck for shady financial schemes.

---

sitting duck Cultural  

1. A very easy target: “His arguments were so simple, she was able to knock them down like sitting ducks.” The term comes from hunting, where it is much easier to hit ducks when they are sitting on the water than when they are in flight.

---

sitting duck Idioms  

1. An easy target, as in If you park in front of a fire hydrant, you're a sitting duck for a ticket. This term alludes to the ease with which a hunter can shoot a duck that remains in one spot, in contrast to one in flight. [First half of 1900s]

---

Etymology

Origin of sitting duck

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sitting duck

In my opinion, I could be a sitting duck.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 12, 2026

All the time, Stern feared his boat was a sitting duck for Venezuelan security forces.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025

Matthew Stafford was a sitting duck in the Rams’ 41-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2024

Cricket is a sitting duck for a phrase like chaos.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2023

There were practical jokes, including one on Hubert Hudson, the navigator, who was generally considered an oddball and a sitting duck for jokes.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

Related Words

• pushover