FromMiddle Frenchsédentaire, fromLatinsedentārius(“sitting”), fromsedeō(“I sit, I am seated”).
sedentary (comparativemoresedentary,superlativemostsedentary)
- Notmoving;relatively still; staying in thevicinity.
The oyster is asedentary mollusk; the barnacles aresedentary crustaceans.
- (anthropology, of a human population) Living in a fixed geographical location; the opposite ofnomadic.
- (medicine, of a job, lifestyle, etc.) Not moving much;sitting around.
1765 [1738], Bishop William Warburton,The Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated[1], page220:[…]the Egyptians; whose Sages were notsedentary, scholasticSophists, like the Grecian[…]
1844 October 3,Benjamin Disraeli,The Acquirement of Knowledge, An address delivered to the members of the Manchester Athenæum:[…]that any education that confined itself tosedentary pursuits was essentially imperfect, that the body as well as the mind should be cultivated[…]
- (obsolete)inactive;motionless;sluggish;tranquil
1667,John Milton, “Book VIII”, inParadise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC:Such restless revolution day by day
Repeated, while thesedentary earth
That better might with far less compass move[…]
1711 December 22,Joseph Addison, “No. 255”, inThe Spectator[2]:The Soul, considered abstractedly from its Passions, is of a remiss andsedentary Nature, slow in its Resolves, and languishing in its Executions.
- (obsolete) Caused by long sitting.
- (antonym(s) of“living in a fixed geographical location”):migratory
- (antonym(s) of“sitting around”):active
- (antonym(s) of“inactive”):active
not moving, not migratory
not moving much; sitting around
sedentary (pluralsedentaries)
- a sedentary person
1998,Effect of acute exercise on skin potential in sedentaries and trained athletes.[3]:Endosomatic electrodermal activity (skin potential level and skin potential response) as an indirect indicator of sympathetic nervous system activity was measured in 35 sedentary male students and 22 trained athletes of two groups during resting and after an acute exercise. The aim of this study was to investigate the difference of skin potential parameters betweensedentaries and trained athletes before and after the acute exercise in bicycle ergometer.
2001,Jaarbericht, Issues 35-38[4], page99:The non-sedentaries rather do not without grain or rice, but thesedentaries have, in Wirth's table, not much less sheep and goats than the non-sedentaries. That is a reason to suppose that thesedentaries can cope without the non-sedentaries
2005,The Cambridge History of Islam: Volume 1, Volume 2[5], page19:With the decline and eventual downfall of the south, it was their relationship with the Arabsedentaries of the north which assumed greater importance;
2012,Deleuze, The Dark Precursor: Dialectic, Structure, Being[6], page37:Smiths are not nomadic among the nomads and sedentary among thesedentaries, nor half-nomadic among the nomads, half-sedentary amongsedentaries.
2015,Road to Beauty Day 8: Hairstyling Tips on the Road[7]:"These baths are great both for active people like sportsmen, as well as forsedentaries who spend too much time behind their desks," explains Dicioni Lino
