View synonyms for

sitting duck

noun

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

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.

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Word History and Origins

Origin of sitting duck¹

First recorded in 1940–45

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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]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

But L.A.’s housing stock is generally older, and many homes scattered across the region’s hills and mountains are sitting ducks — architecturally vulnerable if a fire sweeps through.

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They are, in a nonviolent way, sitting ducks to be confronted.

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They started out by pitching their AI pilot against a target flying straight and level, “a sitting duck” says Mr Darcey.

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They started out by pitching their AI pilot against a target flying straight and level, “a sitting duck” says Mr Darcy.

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She said she remains "infuriated" by a security set-up that she said left them "like sitting ducks".

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