cross-legged
Americanadjective
adjective
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sitting with the legs bent and the knees pointing outwards
-
standing or sitting with one leg crossed over the other
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cross-legged
First recorded in 1520–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Nearby, a group of men sat cross-legged on the ground in a circle, shielding their eyes from errant flakes as one of them hammered chunks off a large clump of gum.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
Sitting cross-legged on a red carpet, artist Mohammad Younes Qane uses an ultra-fine paintbrush to trace details such as a horse's mane or the beads of a necklace.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
Though the statue was sitting cross-legged with a laptop, a plaque beneath it read, confusingly, “Always Standing for Freedom.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
A 1,000 year-old human skeleton which was buried sitting cross-legged in India has been moved to a museum six years after it was excavated.
From BBC ● May 16, 2025
He climbed into her enclosure and sat cross-legged beside her, scratching behind her ears and thinking about the weekend.
From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
