Meanings
plural sitting ducks
- idiomaticAn obvious, vulnerable target.
For God's sake, Sergeant, we need to get to cover – we're sitting ducks out here.
3 more examples
[Now that the last gay bathhouse has closed] the AIDS Action Committee will no longer have all of those sitting ducks to reach with education
1989 February 5, Christopher Wittke, “Bye Bye Bathhouse”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 29, page 16Joker: We're sitting ducks out here. I have to try to lose them in the debris field!
2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2The soldiers were sitting ducks, sent forth by Russian commanders to act essentially as human cannon fodder in an assault.
2023 February 13, Andrew E. Kramer, “‘Our Losses Were Gigantic’: Life in a Sacrificial Russian Assault Wave”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 20 Mar 2023
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From waterfowl hunting; ducks resting or swimming on the water are stationary and much easier to hit than ducks in flight; became popular military slang during World War II.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian ле́сна пля́чка
- ле́сна пля́чка (lésna pljáčka)an obvious, vulnerable target
Chinese Mandarin 活靶子
- 活靶子 (huóbǎzi)an obvious, vulnerable target
Czech snadný cíl, snadná kořist
- snadný cílan obvious, vulnerable target
- snadná kořistan obvious, vulnerable target
Finnish maalitaulu
- maalitauluan obvious, vulnerable target
French cible facile
- cible facilean obvious, vulnerable target
German leichte Beute, leichtes Ziel
- leichte Beutean obvious, vulnerable target
- leichtes Zielan obvious, vulnerable target
Hungarian könnyű célpont, könnyű préda
- könnyű célpontan obvious, vulnerable target
- könnyű prédaan obvious, vulnerable target
- gyerekjáték eltalálnian obvious, vulnerable target
Italian bersaglio facile, facile preda
- bersaglio facilean obvious, vulnerable target
- facile predaan obvious, vulnerable target
Japanese いい鴨
- いい鴨 (iikamo)an obvious, vulnerable target
Polish łatwy cel, łatwa zdobycz
- łatwy celan obvious, vulnerable target
- łatwa zdobyczan obvious, vulnerable target
Portuguese presa fácil
- presa fácilan obvious, vulnerable target
Romanian pradă ușoară, țintă facilă
- pradă ușoarăan obvious, vulnerable target
- țintă facilăan obvious, vulnerable target
Russian удо́бная ми́шень, лёгкая цель
- удо́бная ми́шень (udóbnaja míšenʹ)an obvious, vulnerable target
- лёгкая цель (ljóxkaja celʹ)an obvious, vulnerable target
Spanish blanco fácil, presa fácil
- blanco fácilan obvious, vulnerable target
- presa fácilan obvious, vulnerable target
- pato de feriaan obvious, vulnerable target
Swedish lätt offer
- lätt offeran obvious, vulnerable target
Thai เป้านิ่ง
- เป้านิ่ง (bpâo-nîng)an obvious, vulnerable target
Cite this entry
sitting duck. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sitting%20duck
“sitting duck.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sitting%20duck. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sitting duck,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sitting%20duck.
Source: sitting duck on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.