MEANING
To delay making a choice or avoid committing yourself to one side of an issue.
Use it for
describing refusal to take a position; showing delayed commitment between alternatives; criticizing strategic indecision; distinguishing noncommitment from agreement with both sidesDescribes withholding a choice or position when alternatives demand commitment. Writing functions: Noncommitment.
Words that belong together
- sit on the fence about an issue
- stop sitting on the fence
On the page
The committee could not sit on the fence once the two proposals became mutually exclusive.
She accused the newspaper of sitting on the fence rather than defending its stated principles.
Word forms
- Base
- sit on the fence
Usage notes
Verbal idiom: sit/sits/sat/sat/sitting on the fence; often about an issue. Register: neutral. Commonness: common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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