sit by

phrasal verb

sat by; sitting by; sits by

: to make no effort to stop something bad or unpleasant from happening

I won't sit idly by while he ruins his life!

Examples of sit by in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Streep, 75, sat by her longtime friend Short's side at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 15, during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, at which the pair's show Only Murders in the Building received nominations in eight different categories. —Tommy McArdle, Peoplemag, 16 Sep. 2024

In the cold winter of 1945 in Minnie, Kentucky, Sizemore Branch, my grandparents sat by a warm fireplace waiting for news about their son fighting in Germany. —Melanie Laughman, The Enquirer, 11 Sep. 2024

One chilly midwinter morning, Goldsborough found Moni sitting by herself on a high tree stump in the center of her enclosure, cradling something in her arms. —Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 9 Sep. 2024

But Musk, sitting by Peltz at the center of the table, offered an explicitly pro-Trump view, the attendees said. —Faiz Siddiqui, Washington Post, 29 July 2024