sit with

present singular third person sits with · participle present sitting with · participle past sat with · past sat with

1. idiomaticTo consider (something) slowly and carefully, to reflect on.

   Before a child has time to sit with one image or idea, the scene has moved on to the next, with a burst of information.

   2026 September 17, Natalia Kucirkova, “Faster! Louder! Brighter! How the attention economy overwhelmed children’s TV”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   3 more examples

   The first step to managing anger is to acknowledge it. Sit with it. Treat yourself like a child that is a little emotional. It’s OK to feel that emotion – it’s not the emotion that destroys us or makes us, it’s what we do with it.

   2019 May 13, Will Coldwell, quoting Mo Gawdat, “Anger is an energy: how to turn fury into a force for good”, in The Guardian

   After what felt like 20 instances, Polley recalls, “I kind of snapped” at Logan Airport in Boston. “I just went, ‘If I told you there was a movie called 12 Angry Men, would you go and see it?’ And he was like, ‘Maybe.’ I said, ‘Well, I just want you to sit with that.’[…]”

   2023 February 28, David Canfield, “Frances McDormand and Sarah Polley Just Want to Keep Talking”, in Vanity Fair

   […] the suspected phone thrower, Nicolas Malvagna, allegedly had this to say for himself: “I was trying to see if I could hit her with the phone at the end of the show because it would be funny.” According to the Manhattan district attorney’s office, per the Daily News, this is what Malvagna told a witness who spoke to police. I’m gonna let us all just sit with that for a sec.

   2023 June 20, Kathleen Walsh, “Bebe Rexha Updates Fans After Phone-Throwing Injury: ‘I’m Good’”, in Glamour

2. informalTo accept, observe and experience a phenomenon, usually an emotion or feeling.

   My therapist said I should sit with these fears and see how it feels to let myself experience them.

3. idiomaticTo be harmonious with (something).

   I'm afraid his personality doesn't sit with the rest of the team.

4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see sit, with.