sedentary

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: sed=en=tar=y

CIDE DICTIONARY

sedentary, a. [L. sedentarius, fr. sedere to sit: cf. F. seédentaire. See Sedent.].

•  Accustomed to sit much or long; as, a sedentary man.  Bp. Warburton.  [1913 Webster]
•  Characterized by, or requiring, much sitting; as, a sedentary employment; a sedentary life.  [1913 Webster]

  "Any education that confined itself to sedentary pursuits was essentially imperfect."  [1913 Webster]
•  Inactive; motionless; sluggish; hence, calm; tranquil.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]

  "The soul, considered abstractly from its passions, is of a remiss, sedentary nature."  [1913 Webster]
•  Caused by long sitting.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]
•  Remaining in one place, especially when firmly attached to some object; as, the oyster is a sedentary mollusk; the barnacles are sedentary crustaceans.  [1913 Webster]

Sedentary spider (Zoöl.), one of a tribe of spiders which rest motionless until their prey is caught in their web.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

sedentary, adj.
1 sitting (a sedentary posture).
2 (of work etc.) characterized by much sitting and little physical exercise.
3 (of a person) spending much time seated.
4 Zool. not migratory, free-swimming, etc.

Derivative

sedentarily adv. sedentariness n.

Etymology

F s{eacute}dentaire or L sedentarius f. sedere sit

THESAURUS

sedentary

abeyant, apathetic, at a standstill, cataleptic, catatonic, dead, dopey, dormant, dull, fixed, flat, foul, groggy, heavy, immobile, in abeyance, in suspense, inactive, inert, languid, languorous, latent, leaden, lifeless, logy, motionless, passive, phlegmatic, quiescent, seated, sitting, slack, sleeping, sluggish, slumbering, smoldering, stagnant, standing, static, stationary, suspended, tame, torpid, unactive, unaroused, unmoving

ROGET THESAURUS

sedentary

Quiescence

N quiescence, rest, stillness, quiescence, stagnation, stagnancy, fixity, immobility, catalepsy, indisturbance, quietism, quiet, tranquility, calm, repose, peace, dead calm, anticyclone, statue-like repose, silence, not a breath of air, not a mouse stirring, sleep, pause, lull, stand still, standing still, lock, dead lock, dead stop, dead stand, full stop, fix, embargo, resting place, gite, bivouac, home, pillow, haven, goal, quiescent, still, motionless, moveless, fixed, stationary, immotile, at rest at a stand, at a standstill, at anchor, stock, still, standing still, sedentary, untraveled, stay-at-home, becalmed, stagnant, quiet, unmoved, undisturbed, unruffled, calm, restful, cataleptic, immovable, sleeping, silent, still as a statue, still as a post, still as a mouse, still as death, vegetative, vegetating, at a stand, tout court, at the halt, Int, stop!, stay!, avast!, halt!, hold hard!, whoa!, hold!, sabr karo!, requiescat in pace, Deus nobis haec otia fecit, the noonday quiet holds the hill.