sit
/sɪt/
sit verb: to be in a position in which the upper body is upright and supported by the buttocks. Also the ellipsis of babysit.
Verb
sit (third-person singular simple present sits, present participle sitting, simple past sat or (dated, poetic) sate, past participle sat or (dated, poetic) sate or (archaic, dialectal) sitten)
- To be in a position in which the upper body is upright and supported by the buttocks.
- 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!
- Synonyms:
- be seated
- To move oneself into such a position.
- I asked him to sit.
- Synonyms:
- be seated, sit down, sit up, take a seat
- To occupy a given position.
- The dishes are still sitting on the table!
- The temple has sat atop that hill for centuries.
- Synonyms:
- be
- To remain in a state of repose; to rest; to abide; to rest in any position or condition.
- And Moses said to […] the children of Reuben, Shall your brothren go to war, and shall ye sit here?1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 32:6
- Like a demigod here sit I in the sky.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- To be a member of a deliberative body.
- I currently sit on a standards committee.
- 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?
- To lie, rest, or bear; to press or weigh.
- The calamity sits heavy on us.1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC
- To be adjusted; to fit.
- Your new coat sits well.
- This new and gorgeous garment, majesty, / Sits not so easy on me as you think.c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
- To be accepted or acceptable; to work.
- How will this new contract sit with the workers?
- I don’t think it will sit well.
- Synonyms:
- be accept, be welcome, be well receive
- To cause to be seated or in a sitting posture; to furnish a seat to.
- Sit him in front of the TV and he might watch for hours.
- To accommodate in seats; to seat.
- The dining room table sits eight comfortably.
- I sat me weary on a pillar's base, / And leaned against the shaft1899, James Thomson, “The City of Dreadful Night”, in The City of Dreadful Night and Other Poems, page 43
- Synonyms:
- seat
- To take, to undergo or complete (an examination or test).
Show 4 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
- To cover and warm eggs for hatching, as a fowl; to brood; to incubate.
- The partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 17:11
- 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.
- 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 sits1689, John Selden, Table Talk
- Sits the wind in that quarter?1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown...
- To keep one's seat when faced with (a blow, attack); to endure, to put up with.
- 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.1790, Amelia Opie, chapter 5, in Dangers of Coquetry, volume I
Noun (1)
sit (plural sits)
- An act of sitting.
- Subsidence of the roof of a coal mine.
- An event, usually lasting one full day or more, where the primary goal is to sit in meditation.
Noun (2) capitalized: SIT
SIT (countable and uncountable, plural SITs)
- Initialism of special information tone.
- Initialism of Special Investigation Team.
- Initialism of spontaneous ignition temperature.
- Initialism of sterile insect technique
Proper noun capitalized: Sit
Sit (plural Sits)
- A surname.
Also used as
sit is also the ellipsis of babysit.
sit is also the clipping of situation.
sit meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sit in Hindi
- of a person, be in a position in which the upper body is upright and the legs are supported
- बैठना baiṭhnā, बैठा होना baiṭhā honā
- of an object: occupy a given position permanently
- स्थित sthit
sit in Tamil
- of a person, be in a position in which the upper body is upright and the legs are supported
- உட்கார் uṭkār, அமர் amar
sit in Marathi
- of a person, be in a position in which the upper body is upright and the legs are supported
- बसणे basṇe
sit in Urdu
- of a person, be in a position in which the upper body is upright and the legs are supported
- بیٹھنا baiṭhnā, بیٹھا ہونا baiṭhā honā
More languagesFewer languages
- sit in Bengali
- বসা bośa
- sit in Telugu
- కూర్చొను kūrconu
- sit in Kannada
- ಕುಳಿತುಕೊ kuḷituko
- sit in Punjabi
- ਬੈਠਣਾ baiṭhṇā
- sit in Gujarati
- બેસવું besvũ
- sit in Odia
- ବସିବା basibā
- sit in Sanskrit
- सीदति sīdati
- sit in Sinhala
- වාඩිවෙනවා wāḍiwenawā
- sit in Assamese
- বহ boh
- sit in Tagalog
- umupo
- sit in Arabic
- جَلَسَ jalasa, جلس jalas, قعد gaʕad
- sit in Malay
- duduk
- sit in Indonesian
- duduk
- sit in Persian
- نشستن nešastan
- sit in Thai
- นั่ง nâng
- sit in Vietnamese
- ngồi
- sit in Myanmar
- ထိုင် htuing
Examples of sit in a sentence
- The violence in these video games sits awkwardly with their stated aim of educating children.
- The Yellow Sea sits between the Korean Peninsula and China.2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)
Synonyms of sit
- be seated
- sit down
- sit up
- take a seat
- be
- be accept
- be welcome
- be well receive
- seat
- be found
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- be situate
Forms of sit
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | sits |
| present participle | sitting |
| past | sat |
| past participle | sat |
| second-person singular past | sattest |
| past poetic (dated) | sate |
| past participle poetic (dated) | sate |
| past participle (archaic, dialectal) | sitten |
| Noun | |
| plural | sits |
| plural | SITs |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Sits |
Origin of 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).
From the Chinese surname, from Cantonese 薛 (sit³).
Words formed from sit
- apartment-sit
- atsit
- babysit
- besit
- birdsit
- catsit
- childsit
- dogsit
- do not sit in Rome and strive with the Pope
- face-sit
- fence-sit
- flat-sit
- where one is sitting
- granny-sit
- home-sit
- horsesit
- house-sit
- if I fits, I sits
- if it fits, I sits
- is anyone sitting here
- outsit
- oversit
- people sit on chairs
- petsit
- pigsit
- plant-sit
- puppysit
- resit
- saw off the branch one is sitting on
- sit about
- sit-and-go
- sit-and-wait predator
- sit around
- sit back
- sit back on one's heels
- sit by
- sit-by-the-fire
- sit dead-red
- sit down
- sitfast
- sit for
- sit idly by
- sit in for
- sit in judgement
- sit in judgment
- sit-inner
- sit in on
- sit-in
- sit in
- sit in the wheels
- sit in with
- sit-lie
- sit loose
- sit loosely
- sit off
- sit-on
- sit on
- sit on a tack
- sit on death's doorstep
- sit one's ass down
Phrases with sit
- sit up
- cat sit
- dog sit
- pet sit
- sit out
- sit ups
- sit bone
- sit outs
- sit over
- sit spin
- sit upon
- sit well
31 more phrasesFewer phrases
- sit with
- trip sit
- wall sit
- house sit
- plant sit
- sit bones
- sit on it
- sit right
- sit shiva
- sit spins
- sit still
- sit tight
- sit under
- sit upons
- sit through
- sit up with
- apartment sit
- sit the fence
- please sit down
- sit on one's ass
- sit on the fence
- sit on one's arse
- sit on one's hands
- sit one's butt down
- sit on one's laurels
- sit there like a plum
- sit on someone's wheel
- sit there like a lemon
- sit up and take notice
- quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur
- where you stand depends on where you sit
Words that rhyme with sit
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about sit
- What does sit mean?
- Sit means to be in a position in which the upper body is upright and supported by the buttocks.
- What is sit in Hindi?
- Sit in Hindi is बैठना (baiṭhnā), बैठा होना (baiṭhā honā), स्थित (sthit). See Sit meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use sit in a sentence?
- The violence in these video games sits awkwardly with their stated aim of educating children.
- What part of speech is sit?
- Sit can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce sit?
- Sit is pronounced /sɪt/.
- What is the past tense of sit?
- The past tense of sit is sat.
Words near sit in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sit (page history and authors); SIT (page history and authors); Sit (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: en-us-sit.ogg, en-au-sit.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.