sit by

1. Also, sit idly by. Refrain from interfering, remain passive, as in I can't just sit by and let her get in trouble.

Example Sentences

“This fight is not about sitting by and complaining, ‘Oh, they’re cheating,’” the former vice president said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A sign next to a pile of mud-stained photo albums that sits by the entrance warns: "Do not touch. Contaminated material."

Read more on Barron's

If two patients, for example, are delirious upon waking from surgery, they both need someone to sit by their bedsides, even as a third or fourth patient may need assistance walking to the toilet.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"We are waiting, sitting by the crossing. My son and I slept here last night, on the pavement, in the cold, waiting to go back home," he told a BBC freelancer.

Read more on BBC

The pictures show a pallid, hollow-eyed man, resembling Poe, who’s sitting by the fire in his dressing gown when there comes a gentle “rapping, rapping” at the door.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal