Sit

//sɪt// name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An act of sitting.
  2. 2
    Clipping of situation. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, informal

    "The increasing scope of the disaster was relayed in short, terse sentences whose brevity does not conceal the unfolding nightmare. […] In mid-afternoon at 1600: “Sit is getting worse; need help badly,” “have considerable number of wounded that are unable to evacuate.”"

  3. 3
    Initialism of special information tone. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  4. 4
    Subsidence of the roof of a coal mine.
  5. 5
    Initialism of Special Investigation Team. India, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    An event, usually lasting one full day or more, where the primary goal is to sit in meditation. rare
  2. 7
    Initialism of spontaneous ignition temperature. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
  3. 8
    Initialism of sterile insect technique abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To be in a position in which the upper body is upright and supported by the buttocks. copulative, intransitive

    "After a long day of walking, it was good just to sit and relax."

  2. 2
    serve in a specific professional capacity wordnet
  3. 3
    To move oneself into such a position. intransitive

    "I asked him to sit."

  4. 4
    be in a position in which one's upper body is largely upright and supported by one's backside wordnet
  5. 5
    To occupy a given position. intransitive

    "The dishes are still sitting on the table!"

Show 22 more definitions
  1. 6
    show to a seat; assign a seat for wordnet
  2. 7
    To remain in a state of repose; to rest; to abide; to rest in any position or condition. copulative, intransitive

    "And Moses said to […] the children of Reuben, Shall your brothren go to war, and shall ye sit here?"

  3. 8
    sit and travel on the back of animal, usually while controlling its motions wordnet
  4. 9
    To be a member of a deliberative body.

    "I currently sit on a standards committee."

  5. 10
    take a seat wordnet
  6. 11
    Of a legislative or, especially, a judicial body such as a court, to be in session.

    "In what city is the circuit court sitting for this session?"

  7. 12
    be in session wordnet
  8. 13
    To lie, rest, or bear; to press or weigh.

    "The calamity sits heavy on us."

  9. 14
    assume a posture as for artistic purposes wordnet
  10. 15
    To be adjusted; to fit.

    "Your new coat sits well."

  11. 16
    work or act as a baby-sitter wordnet
  12. 17
    To be accepted or acceptable; to work. intransitive

    "How will this new contract sit with the workers?"

  13. 18
    be located or situated somewhere wordnet
  14. 19
    To cause to be seated or in a sitting posture; to furnish a seat to. causative, transitive

    "Sit him in front of the TV and he might watch for hours."

  15. 20
    be around, often idly or without specific purpose wordnet
  16. 21
    To accommodate in seats; to seat. transitive

    "The dining room table sits eight comfortably."

  17. 22
    To babysit. US, ambitransitive

    "I'm going to sit for them on Thursday."

  18. 23
    To take, to undergo or complete (an examination or test). Australia, New-Zealand, UK, transitive
  19. 24
    To cover and warm eggs for hatching, as a fowl; to brood; to incubate.

    "The partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not."

  20. 25
    To take a position for the purpose of having some artistic representation of oneself made, such as a picture or a bust.

    "I'm sitting for a painter this evening."

  21. 26
    To have position, as at the point blown from; to hold a relative position; to have direction.

    "like a good miller that knows how to grind, which way soever the wind sits"

  22. 27
    To keep one's seat when faced with (a blow, attack); to endure, to put up with. obsolete, transitive

    "Louisa, who […] had but ill born the commencement of this conversation, could sit it no longer, and hastily throwing up the sash, complained of the intense heat of the room."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
seatbe seatedseatsit downsit downbe seated

Example

More examples

"I'm going to sit on the bench over there next to the street lamp."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sed- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *sédyeti Proto-Germanic *sitjaną Proto-West Germanic *sittjan Old English sittan Middle English sitten English sit From Middle English sitten, from Old English sittan, from Proto-West Germanic *sittjan, from Proto-Germanic *sitjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“sit”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian sitte, Low German sitten, Dutch zitten, German sitzen, Swedish sitta, Norwegian Bokmål sitte, Norwegian Nynorsk sitja; and with Irish suigh, Latin sedeo, Russian сиде́ть (sidétʹ).

Etymology 2

From the Chinese surname, from Cantonese 薛 (sit³).

Related phrases

apartment-sitdo not sit in Rome and strive with the Popeface-sitfence-sitflat-sitgranny-sithome-sithouse-sitif I fits, I sitsif it fits, I sitsis anyone sitting herepeople sit on chairs

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.