sedentary
/ˈsɛd(ə)nt(ə)ri
/adjective
1(Of a person) tending to spend much time seated; somewhat inactive: we all walk a certain amount every day even if we are sedentary...
- Unfortunately, I am the most sedentary person there is.
- If you are a sedentary person, that's a strike against you, because weight-bearing exercise increases the health of bones.
- Moderately active fat people have far lower mortality rates than do thin sedentary people, and the same death rates as thin active people.
1.1(Of work or a way of life) characterized by much sitting and little physical exercise: a sedentary lifestyle spells bad news for hips and thighs...
- He mentioned TV and computer activity, and that work is more sedentary.
- But if you've also learned unhealthy eating habits and sedentary ways from your family, you'll need to change your lifestyle.
- I was fat for about 10 years living in France and the US with mainly sedentary work and abundance of food to eat.
1.2(Of a position) sitting; seated: he spoke from a sedentary position...
- Similarly, Toronto festivalgoers can see the world every year without leaving a sedentary position.
- The UK won 30 medals 19, of which were won from a sedentary position.
- Then I notice that in this sedentary position, the whole ensemble rides up around my waist.
1.3 Zoology & Anthropology Inhabiting the same locality throughout life; not migratory or nomadic: a tribe of sedentary agriculturists...
- Falconids can be sedentary or migratory.
- Some species of ovenbirds are migratory, others are sedentary.
- The fish that were sedentary during the summer inhabited the deepest holes of the river.
1.4 Zoology (Of an animal) sessile.Shake the crab harder, and you may dislodge tiny sea stars feeding on oysters and mussels, or sea urchins scavenging for seaweed and sedentary invertebrates....
- Most studies of invertebrate larval metamorphosis have been performed with species that are sedentary or sessile as adults.
- The walls and sea floor consist of stark boulders and rough seams of rock uncolonised by sedentary species.
Derivatives
sedentarily
sedentariness
- And probably, some increase in sedentariness is a factor, although this is actually quite difficult to measure.
- Yet it is not a matter of choosing sides between models of nomadism and sedentariness.
- However, Arnold and Owens have shown that cooperative breeding is associated with longer survival, smaller clutches, and increased sedentariness.
Origin
Late 16th century (in the sense 'not migratory'): from French sédentaire or Latin sedentarius, from sedere 'sit'.