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• sit-down
  sit-down

  adjective

  done or accomplished while sitting down.
• sit down
  sit down

  verb

  to adopt or cause (oneself or another) to adopt a sitting posture

sit-down

American  

[sit-doun] / ˈsɪtˌdaʊn /

adjective

1. done or accomplished while sitting down.

   sit-down meetings between the two party leaders.

2. (of a meal or food) served to or intended for persons seated at a table.

   a sit-down dinner.

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noun

• sit-downs
  plural

1. Informal. a period or instance of sitting, as to relax, talk, or the like.

   They had a profitable sit-down together.

2. sit-down strike.

3. a protest demonstration whereby participants refuse to move from a public place.

4. Informal. a meal, especially a dinner, served to persons who are seated at a table.

sit down British  

verb

1. to adopt or cause (oneself or another) to adopt a sitting posture

2. to suffer (insults, etc) without protests or resistance

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noun

1. a form of civil disobedience in which demonstrators sit down in a public place as a protest or to draw attention to a cause

2. See sit-down strike

adjective

1. (of a meal, etc) eaten while sitting down at a table

sit down Idioms  

1. Take a seat, as in Won't you sit down? I won't be long . [c. 1200]

2. sit down to . Prepare to eat a meal, as in At six we all sat down to dinner . [Late 1500s]

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sit-downs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sit-down

First recorded in 1830–40; adj. and noun use of verb phrase sit down

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sit-down sit down sit-downs

Chili’s newest chicken-sandwich offerings appear to be a winner as more sit-down restaurants try to directly compete with fast-food chains.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

“I saw Texas the other day sort of is against data centers,” Trump said in a nearly hourlong sit-down interview with Punchbowl News released Friday.

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026

The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg met Burnham for his first sit-down interview since taking charge and got an exclusive behind the scenes look at the new Manchester office.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

Pizza chains once owned a reliable American ritual: a sit-down dinner under a red-roofed Pizza Hut or a predictable Domino’s delivery on a lazy TV night.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

“We just need everyone to show up for Sunday sit-down dinner, and everything will be fine.”

From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely

Since taking office, Burnham has given an interview to the BBC but the main national dailies have yet to sit down with the new premier.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

“They’re competing with coffee houses. They’re competing with thrift stores. They’re competing with a local park where you can just go sit down and talk to your friends.”

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

He began hauling chairs and a stack of conversation prompts to parks across New York, inviting commuters, dog walkers and tourists to sit down and talk.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

After more than a decade of marriage, this is an excellent time to sit down together with an estate-planning attorney and, if necessary, the attorney who drafted your prenup.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

Carmen stood there for what felt like hours, until she was so tired she had to sit down.

From "I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919" by Lauren Tarshis

So Capotescu, 42, started what he called “listening tables,” moderated sit-downs where students could talk about current events without it turning into a shouting match.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

Mason has left a lot of material on the cutting-room floor as he’s edited 45-minute to one-hour long sit-downs into four- to eight-minute segments.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

She mentioned one of his big legacy-media sit-downs, an interview with George Stephanopoulos, seemingly just to establish that Bankman-Fried was making the rounds and talking a lot.

From Slate ● Oct. 31, 2023

A parade of foreign leaders on recent US trips, including on official state visits at the White House's invitation, have added sit-downs with Elon Musk to their schedules.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2023

I could escape the stage-managed multilateral meetings and sit-downs with leaders and find new ways to bring a little extra warmth to those otherwise staid visits.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

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