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• sit-in
  sit-in

  noun

  any organized protest in which a group of people peacefully occupy and refuse to leave a premises.
• sit in
  sit in

  Attend or take part as a visitor, as in My son's jazz group asked me to sit in tonight . It is often put as sit in on , as in They asked me to sit in on their poker game . [Mid-1800s]

sit-in

American  

[sit-in] / ˈsɪtˌɪn /

noun

sit-ins plural

1. any organized protest in which a group of people peacefully occupy and refuse to leave a premises.

   Sixty students staged a sit-in outside the dean's office.

2. an organized passive protest, especially against racial segregation, in which the demonstrators occupy seats prohibited to them, as in restaurants and other public places.

3. sit-down strike.

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sit-in British  

noun

1. a form of civil disobedience in which demonstrators occupy seats in a public place and refuse to move as a protest

2. another term for sit-down strike

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verb

1. (often foll by for) to deputize (for)

2. (foll by on) to take part (in) as a visitor or guest

   we sat in on Professor Johnson's seminar

3. to organize or take part in a sit-in

sit in Idioms  

1. Attend or take part as a visitor, as in My son's jazz group asked me to sit in tonight . It is often put as sit in on , as in They asked me to sit in on their poker game . [Mid-1800s]

2. Take part in a sit-in, that is, an organized protest in which seated participants refuse to move. For example, The students threatened to sit in unless the dean was reinstated . [c. 1940]

3. sit in on . Visit or observe, as in I'm sitting in on his class, but not for credit . [Early 1900s]

4. sit in for . Substitute for a regular member of a group, as in I'm just sitting in for Harold, who couldn't make it .

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sit-ins
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sit-in

1955–60; noun use of verb phrase sit in (a place); cf. sit ¹, -in ³

Explanation

A sit-in is a type of political demonstration where protesters gather in a building or space and refuse to leave. During the U.S. civil rights movement, lunch counter sit-ins were a common form of protest. The goal of a sit-in is to have specific demands met as well as to raise awareness about the issue. Most sit-ins occur in public spaces, from restaurants to small town city halls to university buildings. Sit-ins almost always get the attention of the press, the public, and the officials whose policies are being demonstrated against. While sit-in participants don't always literally sit down, they usually do — hence the term's name.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sit-in sit in sit-ins

In recent weeks, the Cockroach movement has snowballed—starting as a quiet, weekslong sit-in in the nation’s capital.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

Gandhi had staged a sit-in protest on Tuesday, accusing the government of ignoring students demands and condemning a police crackdown on demonstrations in New Delhi a day earlier.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

Rather than turning on their side, before staging a sit-in protest against the board after the game, West Ham supporters instead sensed a way back into it.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2025

In 2021, while just a freshman lawmaker, when the federal eviction moratorium was set to expire, Bush staged a sit-in on the steps of the Capitol to push the White House to extend it.

From Slate ● Oct. 23, 2025

Back in Durham, NCC student leaders contacted their counterparts at Shaw University in Raleigh and urged them to orchestrate their own sit-in and to pass the word along to other black schools.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

“I sit in this thing and I wonder how in the hell it was such an awesome truck because it’s so stinkin’ small,” Jeff Kent says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

Groups sit in circles debating politics through the night.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

These companies sit in different countries and different indexes, yet they all feed the same machine.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026

In 2023, a commemorative shield was installed a couple of seats away from where he used to sit in the chamber.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

“Is the lion-bird to sit in my place, Nighthand? And the miniatures to eats my fish?”

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

Hall worried for the safety of Kirchner, an intense 27-year-old activist who had been leading sit-ins at OpenAI to protest the dangers of artificial intelligence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

The movement behind nationwide protests sweeping Morocco, the GenZ 212 youth collective, called Monday for "peaceful sit-ins" to push its demands for reforms.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2025

Those organizations energized student movements nationwide through sit-ins and demonstrations and by getting arrested as they fought for civil rights.

From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2025

In September 2014, tens of thousands of protesters began to stage mass sit-ins in downtown Hong Kong, demanding fully democratic elections.

From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2024

White America reacted to the lunch-counter sit-ins with equal parts alarm and confusion.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Related Words

• demonstration
• protest
• revolt
• riot
• sit-down
• walkout