sit on one's hands

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

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Verb

sit on one's hands

1. (idiomatic) To remain idle when action is needed, perhaps because of fear, ignorance, complacency, indecisiveness, or dislike of the person(s) or situation.

Coordinate terms

• twiddle one's thumbs

Translations

to remain idle when action is needed

• French: rester les bras croisés (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}