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• sit-down
  sit-down

  adjective

  done or accomplished while sitting down.
• sit down
  sit down

  verb

  to adopt or cause (oneself or another) to adopt a sitting posture

sit-down

American  

[sit-doun] / ˈsɪtˌdaʊn /

adjective

1. done or accomplished while sitting down.

   sit-down meetings between the two party leaders.

2. (of a meal or food) served to or intended for persons seated at a table.

   a sit-down dinner.

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noun

• sit-downs
  plural

1. Informal. a period or instance of sitting, as to relax, talk, or the like.

   They had a profitable sit-down together.

2. sit-down strike.

3. a protest demonstration whereby participants refuse to move from a public place.

4. Informal. a meal, especially a dinner, served to persons who are seated at a table.

sit down British  

verb

1. to adopt or cause (oneself or another) to adopt a sitting posture

2. to suffer (insults, etc) without protests or resistance

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noun

1. a form of civil disobedience in which demonstrators sit down in a public place as a protest or to draw attention to a cause

2. See sit-down strike

adjective

1. (of a meal, etc) eaten while sitting down at a table

sit down Idioms  

1. Take a seat, as in Won't you sit down? I won't be long . [c. 1200]

2. sit down to . Prepare to eat a meal, as in At six we all sat down to dinner . [Late 1500s]

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sit-downs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sit-down

First recorded in 1830–40; adj. and noun use of verb phrase sit down

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sit-down sit down sit-downs

Not present, however: the attitude of our last sit-down.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

"My husband just became the scapegoat," Ritu Pant, 36, told AFP in her first sit-down interview since her husband's arrest in June.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

Chili’s newest chicken-sandwich offerings appear to be a winner as more sit-down restaurants try to directly compete with fast-food chains.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

“I saw Texas the other day sort of is against data centers,” Trump said in a nearly hourlong sit-down interview with Punchbowl News released Friday.

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026

He was dull and flat, like a teacher offering a prayer before sit-down dinner.

From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely

Johnson is pushing instead for Congress to sit down with top AI executives, an idea he said he had raised with Trump.

From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026

Tremblay added even if Canada cut its trade with the US over the longer term, it was clear "they'll have to sit down and make a compromise".

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Few sit down to a plate of soybeans, but soy is hiding in plain sight throughout the American diet.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

But what is actually involved when you sit down in front of one of these machines?

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Finally, Mrs. Brisbane came into the room to sit down.

From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney

The three men started talking about how to combine the more academic sit-downs with the looser park sessions Colleton had been hosting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

In the six months since, many players and coaches have done more Ohtani-related interviews than they can count, from local L.A. press to international scribes to multi-camera sit-downs for TV specials airing in Japan.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2024

“Win the nomination, pick your nominee, lay out your economic plan, do your convention and now do some sit-downs and amplify that.”

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2024

She mentioned one of his big legacy-media sit-downs, an interview with George Stephanopoulos, seemingly just to establish that Bankman-Fried was making the rounds and talking a lot.

From Slate ● Oct. 31, 2023

I could escape the stage-managed multilateral meetings and sit-downs with leaders and find new ways to bring a little extra warmth to those otherwise staid visits.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

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