ripe for the picking
Ready to harvest
Ripe for the picking describes something ready to be taken with little effort, like fruit mature enough to harvest.
The phrase usually suggests easy opportunity or vulnerability: With their best players injured, the team was ripe for the picking.
It can imply exploitation—a target too exposed or weak to resist.
- opportuneFavorable in timing
- golden opportunityExceptionally favorable circumstance
- readySuitable for use now
- capitalizeMake a letter large
- seizeTake suddenly, forcibly
seize the moment · harvest · ripe fruit · low hanging fruit · lucrative · pluck · advantageous · peak · prime time · mature · yield · prime · unguarded · easy target · wide open · fruit · exploit · optimal
ripe for the pickingout of reach
Beyond one's grasp
impregnable · heavily fortified · inaccessible · unattainable · defended
ripe for the pickingunripe
Not ready for harvest
green · premature · not ready · immature · past its prime
ripe for the pickinghard-won
Achieved with difficulty
a tough nut to crack · hard to come by · like pulling teeth · laborious · arduous
ripeness, ripen, ripened, ripening, riper, ripest, picked, picking, picker