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.
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
She’s in a seventh-floor hotel suite overlooking Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, sitting cross-legged on the couch, leaning forward and clutching a green pillow in her lap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
The agent wrote that Huerta was yelling at and taunting officers and later sat cross-legged in front of a vehicle gate to the location where law enforcement authorities were serving a search warrant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 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
She sits cross-legged on the floor, her face an inch from the screen.
From "Crash" by Jerry Spinelli
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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.