as in to choose
to decide to accept (someone or something) from a group of possibilities
cherry-picked the spacious corner office for his corporate fief
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Recent Examples of cherry-pick
Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia require lab personnel to collect samples for testing to ensure that manufacturers don’t cherry-pick products for testing and hold back contaminated products.
—
Christopher Osher, ProPublica, 29 Jan. 2026
Like any other young actor, her goal is to gain experience by saying yes to a number of projects, not to cherry-pick them.
—Julie Hinds, Freep.com, 29 Jan. 2026
Second, the government can cherry-pick favorable statistics.
—Frank Lavin, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
The Justice Department has pushed back on the defense suggestion that Bondi continues to profit from Ballard’s ongoing representation of UnitedHealth Group and accused Mangione’s lawyers of creating such a misimpression by cherry-picking language from her public financial disclosure report.
—Nicki Brown, CNN Money, 9 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for cherry-pick
Christopher Osher, ProPublica, 29 Jan. 2026
Like any other young actor, her goal is to gain experience by saying yes to a number of projects, not to cherry-pick them.
—Julie Hinds, Freep.com, 29 Jan. 2026
Second, the government can cherry-pick favorable statistics.
—Frank Lavin, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
The Justice Department has pushed back on the defense suggestion that Bondi continues to profit from Ballard’s ongoing representation of UnitedHealth Group and accused Mangione’s lawyers of creating such a misimpression by cherry-picking language from her public financial disclosure report.
—Nicki Brown, CNN Money, 9 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for cherry-pick
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cherry-pick
Verb
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Then came choosing the second pick, and so on.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
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Virgo August 23 – September 22 When your identity wrestles with the group’s expectations, choose depth.—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
5 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Eleven educators have been selected as finalists for the 2026 Minnesota Teacher of the Year, organizers said Friday.—
Nick Lentz,
CBS News,
4 Apr. 2026
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Some months ago, the Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council of Scouting America had selected Diridon as the honoree at its Distinguished Citizens Dinner, which was to be held May 2.—
Sal Pizarro,
Mercury News,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Your job is to pick and choose your way through the heap.—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
31 Mar. 2026
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Boo and Scout were hand-picked for the Bidens by staff at the animal welfare group.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
30 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cherry-pick.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cherry-pick. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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