squat

1. 1.

   sit on one's heels

   “In some cultures, the women give birth while squatting”

   “The children hunkered down to protect themselves from the sandstorm”

   Synonymscrouchscrunchscrunch uphunkerhunker down

   Broadersit
2. 2.

   be close to the earth, or be disproportionately wide

   “The building squatted low”

   Broaderbe
3. 3.

   occupy (a dwelling) illegally

   Broaderoccupy

1. 1.

   short and thick; as e.g. having short legs and heavy musculature

   “some people seem born to be square and chunky”

   “a dumpy little dumpling of a woman”

   “dachshunds are long lowset dogs with drooping ears”

   “a little church with a squat tower”

   “a squatty red smokestack”

   “a stumpy ungainly figure”

   Synonymschunkydumpylow-setsquattystumpy

   Similarshort
2. 2.

   having a low center of gravity; built low to the ground

   Synonymsunderslung

   Similarlow

Other forms of squat

plural

squats·

past tense or participle

squatted

present participle

squatting

comparative or superlative

squatter

comparative or superlative

squattest

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about squat

What does squat mean?

squat means "exercising by repeatedly assuming a crouching position with the knees bent; strengthens the leg muscles". That is the primary sense; the word has 8 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in squat?

squat has 1 syllable: squat. In IPA it is /ˈskwɑt/.

What is another word for squat?

Close synonyms include knee bend, squatting, jack, doodly-squat, diddly-squat. 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 squat a common word?

squat is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.