sit-down
adjective
done or accomplished while sitting down.
sit-down
American
[sit-doun]
/ ˈsɪtˌdaʊn /
adjective
-
done or accomplished while sitting down.
sit-down meetings between the two party leaders.
-
(of a meal or food) served to or intended for persons seated at a table.
a sit-down dinner.
noun
sit-downs
plural
-
Informal. a period or instance of sitting, as to relax, talk, or the like.
They had a profitable sit-down together.
-
a protest demonstration whereby participants refuse to move from a public place.
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Informal. a meal, especially a dinner, served to persons who are seated at a table.
sit down
British
verb
-
to adopt or cause (oneself or another) to adopt a sitting posture
-
to suffer (insults, etc) without protests or resistance
noun
-
a form of civil disobedience in which demonstrators sit down in a public place as a protest or to draw attention to a cause
-
See sit-down strike
adjective
sit down
Idioms
-
Take a seat, as in Won't you sit down? I won't be long . [c. 1200]
-
sit down to . Prepare to eat a meal, as in At six we all sat down to dinner . [Late 1500s]
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sit-down
First recorded in 1830–40; adj. and noun use of verb phrase sit down
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.
“Reading this book, you feel like, ‘If I just sit down with my neighbor and talk to them, I can effect change,’ and that’s a very powerful message.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 25, 2026
Give yourself another award if you want, but after watching you over these past few days, there’s no getting over the fact that you need to sit down.
From Salon • Jun. 19, 2026
You had a chance to sit down with Rachel Sennott of “I Love L.A.,” creator and star of it.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2026
He never did get to sit down to that lunch and now there will be no more international runs, either.
From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026
When we sit down to eat, everything tastes as delicious as it had in Toledo in the days when we were happy, before the expulsion.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
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.
