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sitting duck

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noun

a helpless or easy target or victim: a sitting duck for shady financial schemes.

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RELATED WORDS

pushover, toast, vulnerable, lamb, sinecure

Nearby words

  1. sitten,
  2. sitter,
  3. sitter, willem de,
  4. sitting,
  5. sitting bull,
  6. sitting on a powder keg,
  7. sitting pretty,
  8. sitting room,
  9. sitting target,
  10. sitting tenant

Origin of sitting duck

First recorded in 1940–45
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Culture definitions for sitting duck

sitting duck

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.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with sitting duck

sitting duck

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]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.