sitting duck
33
6.8
- noun
- /ˈsɪtɪŋ dʌk/
- Informal
:
presa fácil
- Cale, you're a sitting duck up there.
There's any number of things may make us attractive to them, but we aren't just sitting ducks.
- There's any number of things may make us attractive to them, but we aren't just sitting ducks.
- In other words, if we're faced with yet another rock from outer space, we are basically sitting ducks.
Examples
-
I can't stand being a sitting duck like that.
Fiction book (1999) -
No matter how you look at it, we're all sitting ducks waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Blog text (33) -
Even if we get outside, we're sitting ducks out there.
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-Just, come on, we're sitting ducks here!
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We're about to be sitting ducks up here.
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We're sitting ducks out here.
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Our big bombers are like sitting ducks, so it is up to us to protect them.
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We are sitting ducks to a potential giant solar flare.
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It's people who are pretty much locked in, oppressed, starved, sitting ducks, subject to many horrors.
Blog text (18) -
In the open field, the soldiers realized they were sitting ducks for enemy snipers.
Synonyms
60
5.6
A person who others attack, trick, or make fun of
34
3.5
A person or thing people attack and take advantage of because it is weak
9
7.1
A person others can easily trick or cheat
Antonyms
How Vulnerable
Surface Forms
Morphology
sitting + duck
The image of something 'sitting' (stationary) combined with 'duck' evokes an immobile, easy-to-hit target, so a learner who knows both words can often infer the sense of vulnerability. However, the meaning is metaphorical and idiomatic (the animal image maps onto a vulnerable person or thing), so the specific idiomatic extension to 'easy to attack or take advantage of' is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Sitting duck comes from hunting: a duck that is sitting quietly on the water or land cannot fly away and becomes an easy target. That's why sitting duck means 'an easy target' or someone who is 'easy to attack' or take advantage of.