deskbound

American  

[desk-bound] / ˈdɛskˌbaʊnd /

adjective

1. doing sedentary work; working exclusively at a desk.

2. unfamiliar with actualities or practical matters outside one's own job.

   deskbound executives who can't grasp production problems.

3. noncombatant.

   deskbound generals.

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Etymology

Origin of deskbound

First recorded in 1940–45; desk + -bound ¹

Example Sentences

That means the messy, bizarre field trips remain a rite of passage for young professionals in an otherwise deskbound field.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

The new study, which involved almost half a million workers, finds that people whose jobs involve frequent moving and lifting tend to live longer than those whose occupations are deskbound.

From New York Times • Jun. 2, 2021

But Charles Bramesco says the truest hero of the time was Peter Gibbons, the deskbound protagonist of Office Space.

From The Guardian • Feb. 19, 2019

He suggested that deskbound workers and other sedentary people get up and move about two minutes every half-hour.

From Washington Post • Nov. 11, 2018

What’s more, here was a way for Hoover, a deskbound functionary, to cast himself as a dashing figure—a crusader for the modern scientific age.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann