Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To choose in a highly selective manner; select only the best or most suitable of.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb idiomatic To pick out the best, or most
desirable items from alist orgroup , especially to obtain someadvantage or topresent something in the best possible light.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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She had no time for ideology - left, right or whatever - and felt that many who invoke her name "cherry-pick ideas to suit their purposes."
The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Stephen Wickens 2011
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She had no time for ideology - left, right or whatever - and felt that many who invoke her name "cherry-pick ideas to suit their purposes."
The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Stephen Wickens 2011
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As social-networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn have become more popular, hackers are finding it easier than ever to cherry-pick personal information from cyberspace.
Hackers Press the 'Schmooze' Button Suzanne Kapner 2011
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Leaders of mental health departments prefer to cherry-pick the easiest to treat for their programs.
DJ Jaffe: San Francisco Mayoral Candidates and Mental Illness DJ Jaffe 2011
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To some people, the backing of Balfour Beatty will be a sign that this is industry-strength, but to others it could ring alarm bells (“will BB be looking to cherry-pick some of my star people?”).
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But it's easy to cherry-pick examples to prove the folly of endorsements.
Do Endorsements Matter? Larry J. Sabato 2012
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They don't get to cherry-pick only the brightest or wealthiest students.
Robert Niles: Why I Send My Children to Public Schools Robert Niles 2011
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Many not all mental health commissioners oppose Laura's Law before implementation because they fear losing the ability to cherry-pick the easiest to treat for admission to their programs.
DJ Jaffe: San Francisco Mayoral Candidates and Mental Illness DJ Jaffe 2011
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They don't get to cherry-pick only the brightest or wealthiest students.
Robert Niles: Why I Send My Children to Public Schools Robert Niles 2011
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The story linked to the post is just another in a long line of hoo-hah where academics cherry-pick a section of wealthy white professionals from suburban locals and compare them against lower/working class people in rural/urban environment, so they can sell version #4546765475 of ‘Liberals are smart and better and wonderful and awesome and conservatives are scientifically proven to be stupid and awful’.
The Volokh Conspiracy » “Do ‘Family Values’ Weaken Families?” 2010
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