low-hanging fruit

noun

low-hang·​ing fruit ˈlō-ˈhaŋ-iŋ- How to pronounce low-hanging fruit (audio)
: the obvious or easy things that can be most readily done or dealt with in achieving success or making progress toward an objective
Maria and Victor have about three months' living expenses set aside. That's actually pretty good …. But I urged them to do better …. Looking at their monthly expenses, we found a few pieces of low-hanging fruit: Two hundred dollars a month on clothes? I don't think so. Another $155 for hair and manicures? Denied.Suze Orman
often used with pick
As the writers and producers sat down in spring 2007 to draw the outlines of Season 7, they knew, Mr. Gordon said, that most of the low-hanging fruit in the action genre had already been picked.Edward Wyatt
When business types talk about picking low-hanging fruit, they don't mean, heaven forbid, doing actual physical labor. They mean finding easy solutions.Allan Sloan

Examples of low-hanging fruit in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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There was not a clear answer from Musk and Ramaswamy on that, the member said, but the takeaway was that there was low-hanging fruit — such as instituting a federal hiring freeze at some agencies. Emily Brooks, The Hill, 5 Dec. 2024 Engineering a global South strategy with the G-20 at its center starts with low-hanging fruit: avoiding incendiary remarks and inflammatory policies that alienate would-be partners. Leslie Vinjamuri, Foreign Affairs, 15 Nov. 2024 Buying Poor-Quality Equipment When minimizing startup costs, many entrepreneurs see store equipment as low-hanging fruit. Shaun Lewis, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024 Disinformation and email hacks are now considered low-hanging fruit. Sam Sabin, Axios, 29 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for low-hanging fruit 

Word History

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of low-hanging fruit was in 1909

Dictionary Entries Near low-hanging fruit

Cite this Entry

“Low-hanging fruit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/low-hanging%20fruit. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

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