sedentary

English

Etymology

From Latin sedentārius (“sitting”), from sedeō (“I sit, I am seated”).

Adjective

sedentary (comparative more sedentary, superlative most sedentary)

  1. Not moving; relatively still; staying in the vicinity.
    The oyster is a sedentary mollusk; the barnacles are sedentary crustaceans.
  2. (medicine, of a job, lifestyle, etc.) Not moving much; sitting around.
    • Bishop Warburton
      Sedentary, scholastic sophists.
    • Beaconsfield
      Any education that confined itself to sedentary pursuits was essentially imperfect.
  3. (obsolete) inactive; motionless; sluggish; tranquil
    • Milton
      The sedentary earth.
    • Spectator
      The soul, considered abstractly from its passions, is of a remiss, sedentary nature.
  4. (obsolete) Caused by long sitting.
    • Milton
      Sedentary numbness.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

not moving, migratory
not moving much; sitting around
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Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 20:04