low-hanging fruit
Low-hanging fruit (noun) means the easiest tasks, targets or gains available, achieved with the least effort. In business it usually means the quick wins a team goes after before tackling anything hard. Example: “Fixing the broken links is low-hanging fruit; the site rebuild can wait.”
How to use low-hanging fruit
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe easy jobs you can finish quickly without much effort.
Business jargon, now so overused that it is a standard entry on office cliche lists. It is uncountable, so there is no plural: say plenty of low-hanging fruit, not low-hanging fruits.
Hyphenate low-hanging before fruit. Using the phrase can imply the speaker is avoiding the difficult work, so it sometimes carries a faint criticism.
Trace the full origin ↓Fill the gap
Can you complete this real example?
Fixing the broken links is _____; the site rebuild can wait.
Etymology
A metaphor from harvesting: the fruit within arm's reach is picked first because it needs no ladder.
Synonyms
View more →Antonyms
Rhymes for low-hanging fruit
See all rhymes for low-hanging fruit →Frequently asked questions
Is low-hanging fruit a compliment or a criticism?
It depends on the framing. Going after low-hanging fruit is sensible prioritisation when resources are tight, but describing someone's results as only low-hanging fruit suggests they took the easy option and left the real problems untouched.
Is the plural "low-hanging fruits"?
No. Fruit is uncountable in this idiom, so the phrase stays the same whether you mean one easy task or twenty. Say there is a lot of low-hanging fruit.
What is the meaning of low-hanging fruit?
"low-hanging fruit" (noun) means the easiest tasks, targets or gains available, achieved with the least effort. In business it usually means the quick wins a team goes after before tackling anything hard.
What is another word for low-hanging fruit?
Other words for "low-hanging fruit" include quick wins, easy pickings, soft targets, easy money.