sedentary
/ˈsɛd.ən.tə.ɹi/US/ˈsɛd.ən.tɛɹ.i/
sedentary adjective: not moving; relatively still; staying in the vicinity.
Adjective
sedentary (comparative more sedentary, superlative most sedentary)
- Not moving; relatively still; staying in the vicinity.
- The oyster is a sedentary mollusk; the barnacles are sedentary crustaceans.
- Synonyms:
- immobile
- Of a human population, living in a fixed geographical location.
- .
- Synonyms:
- settled, non-migratory
- Antonyms:
- nomadic
- Of a job, lifestyle, etc., not moving much; sitting around; inactive.
- […]the Egyptians; whose Sages were not sedentary, scholastic Sophists, like the Grecian[…]1765 [1738], Bishop William Warburton, The Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated, page 220
- […]that any education that confined itself to sedentary pursuits was essentially imperfect, that the body as well as the mind should be cultivated[…]1844 October 3, Benjamin Disraeli, The Acquirement of Knowledge, An address delivered to the members of the Manchester Athenæum
- Synonyms:
- chairborne, sitsome
- Inactive; motionless; sluggish; tranquil.
- Such restless revolution day by day
Repeated, while the sedentary earth
That better might with far less compass move[…]1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC... - The Soul, considered abstractedly from its Passions, is of a remiss and sedentary Nature, slow in its Resolves, and languishing in its Executions.1711 December 22, Joseph Addison, “No. 255”, in The Spectator
- Synonyms:
- abeyant
- Such restless revolution day by day
- Caused by long sitting.
- till length of years
And sedentary numbness craze my limbs
To a contemptible old age obscure.1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, lines 569-571
- till length of years
Noun
sedentary (plural sedentaries)
- A sedentary person.
- Endosomatic electrodermal activity (skin potential level and skin potential response) as an indirect indicator of sympathetic nervous system activity was measured in 35 sedentary male students and 22 trained athletes of two groups during resting and after an acute exercise. The aim of this study...1998, Effect of acute exercise on skin potential in sedentaries and trained athletes.
- The non-sedentaries rather do not without grain or rice, but the sedentaries have, in Wirth's table, not much less sheep and goats than the non-sedentaries. That is a reason to suppose that the sedentaries can cope without the non-sedentaries2001, Jaarbericht, Issues 35-38, page 99
sedentary meaning in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada
sedentary in Tamil
- உட்கார்ந்தே செய்கின்ற, உட்கார்ந்தே பணியாற்றுகின்ற, உட்கார்ந்தே இருக்கின்ற, அதிக உடலுழைப்புத் தேவைப்படாத, இடப் பெயர்ச்சி யில்லாத, நிலை இறுதியாக்கப்பட்ட
sedentary in Telugu
- not moving much; sitting around
- కూర్చున్నట్టు చేసేపని kūrcunnaṭṭu cēsēpani
sedentary in Malayalam
- ഉദാസീനനായ, എപ്പോഴും കുത്തിയിരിക്കുന്ന, കായികാദ്ധ്വാനം ആവശ്യമില്ലാത്ത
sedentary in Kannada
- ಕುಳಿತಿರುವ
More languagesFewer languages
- sedentary in Arabic
- حَضَرِيّ ḥaḍariyy
- sedentary in Indonesian
- sambil duduk, sedenter
Examples of sedentary in a sentence
- There is, however, a gap between the athletic games that were played by large groups of men and the sedentary games that are confined to a few players, which I find it difficult to bridge.1952, H[arold] J[ames] R[uthven] Murray, “The Distribution and Origin of Board-Games”, in A History of Board-Games Other Than Chess...
- Smiths are not nomadic among the nomads and sedentary among the sedentaries, nor half-nomadic among the nomads, half-sedentary among sedentaries.2012, Deleuze, The Dark Precursor: Dialectic, Structure, Being, page 37:
Synonyms of sedentary
Antonyms
Forms of sedentary
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more sedentary |
| superlative | most sedentary |
| Noun | |
| plural | sedentaries |
Origin of sedentary
From Middle French sédentaire, from Latin sedentārius (“sitting”), from sedeō (“to sit, to be seated”).
Words formed from sedentary
Questions about sedentary
- What does sedentary mean?
- Sedentary means not moving; relatively still; staying in the vicinity.
- What is sedentary in Tamil?
- Sedentary in Tamil is உட்கார்ந்தே செய்கின்ற, உட்கார்ந்தே பணியாற்றுகின்ற, உட்கார்ந்தே இருக்கின்ற. See Sedentary meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use sedentary in a sentence?
- There is, however, a gap between the athletic games that were played by large groups of men and the sedentary games that are confined to a few players, which I find it difficult to bridge.
- What part of speech is sedentary?
- Sedentary can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce sedentary?
- Sedentary is pronounced /ˈsɛd.ən.tɛɹ.i/ (US).
Words near sedentary in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sedentary (page history and authors); sedentary (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sedentary (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sedentary (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sedentary.wav.
Cite this entry: “sedentary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sedentary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.