Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
👀 To observe ✊ To protest by sitting
to sit in

to sit in

14 5.1
To stay in a place as a protest to demand change
  • phrasal verb
  • /sɪt ɪn/
translation icon : hacer una sentada
  • The believer learns to sit in two worlds at once.

Examples

  • Every time some people sit in meetings, more of our people die!

    5 Days of War (2011)

  • Greensboro, NC Sit in and what happens with that sit in?

  • We just wanted to sit in your parking lot for a little while.

    The Paperboy (2012)

  • In various places, protesters sing, dance, drum, or simply sit in the street.

    Academic text (2001)

  • During the protest, students decided to sit in at the university to demand better conditions.

  • Activists organized a sit in at the city hall to advocate for environmental justice.

  • The community planned to sit in at the town square to raise awareness about social issues.

Antonyms

to leave
∞ 1.0

To go away from a place, person, or group

to disengage
82 5.3

To stop being part of or connected to something

How Disruptive

to riot
26 4.9
to sit in
14 5.1
march
161 2.6
to petition
  • Formal
61 3.5

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

sit + in

The basic idea of being physically present at an event is derivable from 'sit' (be seated/present) + 'in' (inside/within), so learners could infer it means to attend. However, the specific pragmatic nuance of attending as a visitor/observer (not a regular participant) and the verb+particle construction's specialised use are somewhat idiomatic and not fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Sit in comes from protests such as the 1960s civil rights actions, where people sat at lunch counters and refused to leave to show they wanted equal rights. By literally staying and blocking the place, they protested, so sit in means 'to protest by occupying a place'.