sitting duck

noun

1. a helpless or easy target or victim:

   a sitting duck for shady financial schemes.

sitting duck

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sitting duck¹

First recorded in 1940–45

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

At night though, their behavior practically turns them into sitting ducks.

From Science News

Perhaps the deep-pocketed corporation was the real victim, some grotesque combination of sitting duck and cash cow?

From The Daily Beast

A weaving target has a chance, but a target standing motionless is a sitting duck and his life hangs by a hair.

From Project Gutenberg

If any of the Company ships sight us, we'll be a sitting duck.

From Project Gutenberg

There were three eggs in the inaccessible cliff-nest, and he brought me one, which I tried in vain to hatch under a sitting duck.

From Project Gutenberg

Six great green eggs, stolen from a sitting duck which had belonged to the ill-fated Pierce, were the staple food.

From Project Gutenberg

There is a very dangerous time when the driver is a sitting duck.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• pushover