English

Adjective

like shooting fish in a barrel ‎(comparative more like shooting fish in a barrel, superlative most like shooting fish in a barrel)

1. (simile) Extremely easy.
   • 1982 April 2, Associated Press, "Entrants Gamble For Chance To Stalk Big Game," The Dispatch (USA), p. 20 (retrieved 18 July 2012):

     Opponents contend that the lumbering creatures are so easy to shoot that a moose hunt is a slaughter, not a sport. "It's like shooting fish in a barrel," they say.

   • 2003 Oct. 24, Ken Johnson, "Art in Review: Mary Ellen Mark—‘Twins’," New York Times (retrieved 18 July 2012):

     For a photographer, shooting twins at the annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, must be like shooting fish in a barrel.

   • 2005 March 29, John S. Doyle, "We're all sport crazy... but for all the wrong sports," Irish Independent (Ireland) (retrieved 18 July 2012):

     Standing on those long straight roads with the speed detection gun was like shooting fish in a barrel, somebody said.

Synonyms

• easy as pie
• like taking candy from a baby

Translations

See also