English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈsɪtɪŋ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪtɪŋ
  • Hyphenation: sit‧ting

Etymology 1

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From Middle English sittyng, sittynge, equivalent to sit +‎ -ing. Cognate with Dutch zitting (a sitting, session), German Sitzung (a sitting, session), Swedish sittning (a sitting, session).

Noun

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sitting (plural sittings)

  1. A period during which one is seated for a specific purpose.
    Due to the sheer volume of guests, we had to have two sittings for the meal.
    The Queen had three sittings for her portrait.
  2. A seance or other session with a medium or fortuneteller.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      "It's not always easy to get him, and of course a small fee, a guinea I think, is usual, but if you wanted a sitting I could work it." "You think him genuine?" Atkinson shrugged his shoulders.
  3. A special seat allotted to a seat-holder, at church, etc.
  4. The part of the year in which judicial business is transacted.
  5. A legislative session (in the sense of "meeting", not "period").
  6. The incubation of eggs by a bird.
  7. A clutch of eggs laid by a brooding bird.
    we have thirty-four chicks from eight sittings of eggs
  8. Uninterrupted application to anything for a time; the period during which one continues at anything.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English sittinge, sittynge, variant of sittinde, sittende, sittande, from Old English sittende (sitting), from Proto-Germanic *sitjandz (sitting), present participle of Proto-Germanic *sitjaną (to sit), equivalent to sit +‎ -ing. Cognate with West Frisian sittend (sitting), Dutch zittend (sitting), German sitzend (sitting), Swedish sittande (sitting), Icelandic sitjandi (sitting).

Verb

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sitting

  1. present participle and gerund of sit
Derived terms
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Adjective

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sitting (not comparable)

  1. Executed from a sitting position.
  2. Occupying a specific official or legal position; incumbent.
    • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist[1], volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
      Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. [] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
    • 2022 April 8, John Lichfield, “Get ready for a scary fortnight in French politics: a Le Pen presidency really is possible”, in The Guardian[2]:
      It is an iron rule of French politics that sitting presidents are detested.
Derived terms
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References

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  • sitting”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Alternative forms

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Noun

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sitting f (definite singular sittinga, indefinite plural sittingar, definite plural sittingane)

  1. the act of sitting

References

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