Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🪑 To take a seat 👤 To seat someone
to sit down

to sit down

∞ 1.0
Move from standing into a chair or onto the ground
  • phrasal verb
  • /sɪt daʊn/
translation icon : sentarse
  • Take your time when eating meals, ensuring you sit down to eat and chew your food well.
  • sit down in a chair
  • sit down to eat
  • sit down and talk

One of you should sit down, then repeat.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Shall we sit down, then?

    Back to Black (2024)

  • After a long day of work, I finally sat down to relax on the couch.

  • And the teacher was like, sit down and be quiet.

  • And I keep thinking, am I going to sit down and answer this?

    Robinson Erhardt

  • All right, it's time to sit down and enjoy this in bed.

  • It's like, you know, I am going to sit down and eat lunch.

    Mel Robbins

  • I cannot wait to just sit down in that plane and sleep.

  • I said I would like to sit down with him and find out.

  • Go sit down, I'll get you dinner.

    Of Things Past (2023)

  • Let's all sit down and talk sensible.

    Stagecoach (1939)

Synonyms

to sit
vsto sit down
∞ 1.0

To rest with your weight on your bottom on a seat

moves from standing into a lowered body position on a chair
to have a seat
vsto sit down
209 1.0

Please sit down

moves from standing into a lowered body position without social tone
to take a load off
vsto sit down
  • Informal
13 5.5

To sit down and rest after standing or working

focuses only on the physical movement from standing into a lowered position
to sit one's ass down
vsto sit down
  • Offensive
11 9.9

To sit down, often said strongly to tell someone to calm down

describes the plain action without forceful or rude tone
to take a pew
vsto sit down
  • Archaic
1 9.8

To sit down, often on a church seat but also anywhere

is the neutral verb for moving from standing into a lowered position

Antonyms

to stand up
559 1.0

To get up from sitting or lying and be on your feet

to arise
44 3.0

Get up from bed, a chair, or the floor

How Steady

to endure
94 3.6
to keep going
357 1.6
to sit down
∞ 1.0
to collapse
579 3.9

Surface Forms

sit down infinitive
sitting down present participle
sits down third person singular
sat down past
sat down past participle

Morphology

sit + down

The meaning 'to show someone to a seat or assign a seat to someone' is directly linked to the constituents: 'sit' (to take or place in a seated position) combined with 'down' (to a lower position) yields the idea of placing or taking a seat. This verb + particle composition is a common, cross-linguistic pattern and a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE’s meaning.

Etymology

Sit down gives a simple picture: you lower your body to a seat — you sit and move down onto a chair. So it means 'to move from standing to sitting'.