sit by

1. 1.

   be inactive or indifferent while something is happening

   “Don't just sit by while your rights are violated!”

   Synonymssit back

   Broaderwatch

Questions about sit by

What does sit by mean?

sit by means "be inactive or indifferent while something is happening".

What is another word for sit by?

Close synonyms include sit back. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is sit by a common word?

sit by is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.