Idiom
sit on one's hands
Meaning
To remain idle when action is needed, perhaps because of fear, ignorance, complacency, indecisiveness, or dislike of the person(s) or situation.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Don't just sit on your hands while the house is on fire.”
“The company is losing money every day, yet the board of directors continues to sit on its hands instead of making changes.”
“While the community faced an urgent crisis, the local officials chose to sit on their hands, waiting for someone else to take the lead.”
Examples
simple
“Don't just sit on your hands while the house is on fire.”
contextual
“The company is losing money every day, yet the board of directors continues to sit on its hands instead of making changes.”
complex
“While the community faced an urgent crisis, the local officials chose to sit on their hands, waiting for someone else to take the lead.”
Key words
Related idioms
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