cherry-pick

verb

cher·​ry-pick ˈcher-ē-ˌpik 

cherry-picked; cherry-picking; cherry-picks

intransitive verb

: to select the best or most desirable

transitive verb

: to select as being the best or most desirable

also : to select the best or most desirable from

cherry-picked the art collection

Synonyms

• choose
• cull
• elect
• handpick
• name
• opt (for)
• pick
• prefer
• select
• single (out)
• tag
• take

Examples of cherry-pick in a Sentence

cherry-picked the spacious corner office for his corporate fief

Recent Examples on the Web

Nationwide, Obamacare barred health insurance companies from cherry-picking only the healthiest patients, ending a longstanding practice of denying those with preexisting conditions. —Carmen Balber, Rolling Stone, 17 Jan. 2025

Canva customers can cherry-pick their way through the myriad features Canva provides while still feeling supported by the SaaS giant. —Serenity Gibbons, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025

In response, Baldoni’s counsel has alleged that the text messages illustrative of the smear campaign in the Times article were cherry-picked and taken out of context. —Nicole Page, IndieWire, 6 Jan. 2025

The new lawsuit filed by Baldoni accuses the New York Times of cherry-picking texts, stripping them of context and deliberately splicing them to mislead readers. —Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 1 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense