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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sit.

To be in a position in which the upper body is upright and supported by the buttocks.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/sɪt/
  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.
    You're finishing the chowder if you sit there (motionless) all evening!
  2. To move oneself into such a position.

    intransitive
    I asked him to sit.
  3. To occupy a given position.

    intransitive
    The dishes are still sitting on the table!
    The temple has sat atop that hill for centuries.
  4. To remain in a state of repose; to rest; to abide; to rest in any position or condition.

    copulative · intransitive
  5. To be a member of a deliberative body.

    I currently sit on a standards committee.
  6. 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. To lie, rest, or bear; to press or weigh.

  8. To be adjusted; to fit.

    Your new coat sits well.
  9. To be accepted or acceptable; to work.

    intransitive
    How will this new contract sit with the workers?
    I don’t think it will sit well.
  10. 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.
  11. To accommodate in seats; to seat.

    transitive
    The dining room table sits eight comfortably.
  12. Ellipsis of babysit.

    US · abbreviation · alt-of · ambitransitive · ellipsis
    I'm going to sit for them on Thursday.
    I need to find someone to sit my kids on Friday evening for four hours.
  13. To take, to undergo or complete (an examination or test).

    Australia · New-Zealand · UK · transitive
  14. To cover and warm eggs for hatching, as a fowl; to brood; to incubate.

  15. 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.
  16. To have position, as at the point blown from; to hold a relative position; to have direction.

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

    obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

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, Danish sidde, Faroese sita, Icelandic sitja; and with Irish suigh, Latin sedeo, Russian сиде́ть (sidétʹ).

noun/sɪt/
  1. An act of sitting.

  2. Subsidence of the roof of a coal mine.

  3. An event, usually lasting one full day or more, where the primary goal is to sit in meditation.

    rare
Where this word comes from

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, Danish sidde, Faroese sita, Icelandic sitja; and with Irish suigh, Latin sedeo, Russian сиде́ть (sidétʹ).

noun/sɪt/
  1. Clipping of situation.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · informal
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.