sit back
Britishverb
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Relax, as in Now that the work's finished, we can just sit back .
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Refrain from interfering or taking part, as in Mom and Dad just sat back and watched Meg try to decide whether or not she should tell on her friends . [Mid-1900s] Also see sit by .
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.
“It’s special to be able to sit back and remember the special experiences when you were a kid,” Trout said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
“I think people should be alarmed. This is a health crisis. It’s also an economic crisis for families and government. It’s not something to sit back and ignore,” Zissimopoulos said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026
Davji Bhimji Atellah, KMPDU's secretary general, said the union "will not sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony for a lethal pathogen that we did not generate".
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
All we have to do is sit back and hear him out.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
Whatever Khrushchev was up to, was President Kennedy going to sit back and let it happen?
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
