sitter
noun
a person who sits.
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sitter
1 American
[sit-er]
/ ˈsɪt ər /
noun
sitters
plural
-
a person who sits.
-
a brooding hen.
-
a person who stays with young children while the parents go out; baby-sitter.
-
a person who provides routine or custodial care temporarily or part-time, as for an elderly person or a pet whose owner is on vacation.
-
Slang. the buttocks; rump.
Sitter
2
American
[sit-er]
/ ˈsɪt ər /
noun
sitter
1
British
/ ˈsɪtə /
noun
-
a person or animal that sits
-
a person who is posing for his or her portrait to be painted, carved, etc
-
a broody hen or other bird that is sitting on its eggs to hatch them
-
(in combination) a person who looks after a specified person or thing for someone else
flat-sitter
-
short for baby-sitter
-
anyone, other than the medium, taking part in a seance
-
anything that is extremely easy, such as an easy catch in cricket
Sitter
2
British
/ ˈsɪtə /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sitter
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at sit 1, -er 1
Explanation
Don’t squash the children! A sitter can be anyone who sits — in a chair, on the floor, or anywhere else — but it’s often short for babysitter. They don’t actually sit on the babies, though. We hope. In addition to the person who sits or models for an oil painter, a sitter can also be someone who watches children as a paid job. It's short for babysitter: "Good news, guys, we're having the nice sitter tonight, the one who lets us stay up past bedtime!" The origin of sitter and babysitter isn't completely clear, but some experts guess the sit part comes from birds sitting on their eggs before they hatch.
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.
See Examples For:
Against a somber, black background, the sitter comes vividly alive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
A plant sitter who eats her clients’ plants while insisting she’s very good at her job.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
Caley could not take time off immediately, so the two were searching for a last-minute sitter.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
"We made arrangements in terms of time off work. We've got a cat sitter sorted and everything else," the 63-year-old told the BBC.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
Our interest arises no doubt from the remnant of a primitive belief that an image captures not merely the likeness but also the soul of a sitter.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
Zakrzewski worked as a professional nanny, branding himself as “the original Sitter Buddy” on his website.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2023
Their paper 'Static Black Binaries in de Sitter Space' is published in the journal Physical Review Letters and reviewed as a Viewpoint article.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2023
The idea of chosen family is essential to "The Holiday Sitter," where several characters are expanding their family or hope to through adoption.
From Salon ● Dec. 11, 2022
“We live in something much closer to de Sitter space.”
From Scientific American ● Jan. 18, 2022
I heard again the names of Einstein and De Sitter that I had heard before, repeated frequently by these men as they disputed with Rastin and Thicourt.
From The Man Who Saw the Future by Morey, Leo
She doesn’t love the nuisance of hiring pet sitters when they travel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
We got cat sitters, we both took days off from work, the whole thing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
Chants of "Let's go Knicks" rippled through the dense crowd, made up of some who paid hundreds of dollars for line sitters to wait overnight and save them a space to watch the procession.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
There are hunters and prey, parasites and hosts, swimmers and sitters, and there are those with varied diets while others photosynthesize.
From Science Daily ● May 7, 2026
For a long message, the leader, assisted by the circle of sitters, guessed at words to help the communication along.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
