squat

verb \ ˈskwät \

Updated on: 10 Apr 2018

Definition of squat

squatted; squatting

transitive verb

1 : to cause (oneself) to crouch or sit on the ground

2 : to occupy as a squatter

squat in an abandoned building

intransitive verb

1 : to crouch close to the ground as if to escape observation

a hare squatting in the grass

2 a : to assume or maintain a position in which the body is supported on the feet and the knees are bent so that the buttocks rest on or near the heels

squatted by the campfire

b : to exercise by performing a squat (see ³squat 3a)

3 : to be or become a squatter

See squat defined for English-language learners

See squat defined for kids

Examples of squat in a Sentence

He squatted behind the bush to avoid being seen.
A family has been squatting in that house for months.

Recent Examples of squat from the Web

The men and woman, most from Central America, were squatting Tuesday in a walled public park while government officials decide their fate.

— washington post, BostonGlobe.com, "The caravan of migrants that’s alarmed President Trump has now stalled," 3 Apr. 2018
How else to explain the Aug. 24 game when closer Tippy Martinez picked off consecutive Toronto Blue Jays in the 10th inning, with utility man Lenn Sakata squatting as the emergency catcher?

— childs walker, baltimoresun.com, "Remembering, catching up with the 1983 World Series champion Orioles 35 years later," 22 Mar. 2018
Police said there have been reports of homeless people squatting in the building.

— christine clarridge, The Seattle Times, "Man convicted of 2017 arson at Bellevue mosque to be questioned in Wednesday’s fire," 22 Mar. 2018
Cunanan is eventually discovered squatting in the houseboat, and a standoff with the police ensues.

— julie kosin, Harper's BAZAAR, "Assassination of Gianni Versace Finale: What the Hell Just Happened?," 22 Mar. 2018
Another time, the grandfather walked into a party attended by high school football players, bent his knee and squatted on one foot to touch that knee to the floor.

— indystar staff, Indianapolis Star, "Indiana's only Winter Olympian Nick Goepper hated the first time he tried on skis," 16 Feb. 2018
The ball-playing robot — inspired by a manga character — squats, aims, and springs upward to release the ball, just like a flesh-and-blood player.

— amanda campanaro /, NBC News, "This basketball-playing robot is so good it could outshoot Stephen Curry," 20 Mar. 2018
Ars' Ron Amadeo was particularly impressed with the watch's ability to recognize strength training moves, including jumping-jacks, burpees, crunches, squats, and others, and its rep-counting feature is decent as well.

— valentina palladino, Ars Technica, "Guidemaster: Smartwatches worthy of replacing your favorite timepiece," 19 Feb. 2018
Jumping jacks can seriously shake up your chest, but star squats fire up your butt and inner thighs just as well.

— ashley oerman, Cosmopolitan, "6 Exercises Women With Big Boobs Need in Their Lives," 11 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'squat.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of squat

Middle English squatten to crush, crouch in hiding, from Middle French (Picard dialect) esquatir, escuater, from Old French es- ex- + quatir to hide, from Vulgar Latin *coactire to squeeze, alteration of Latin coactare to compel — more at cache

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

See Words from the same year

squat Synonyms

Synonyms

couch, crouch, huddle, hunch, hunker (down), scrunch, squinch;

Related Words

curl up;

squat

adjective

Definition of squat

squatter; squattest

1 : sitting with the haunches close above the heels

2 a : low to the ground

b : marked by disproportionate shortness or thickness

—

squatly

adverb

—

squatness

noun

See squat defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of squat from the Web

Like all armadillos, screaming hairy ones are equipped with a segmented carapace, a body armor that allows the squat little guys to roll themselves into spheres of desert joy.

— ryan p. smith, Smithsonian, "Once You See These Brand New “Screaming Armadillo” Pups, You’ll Be Screaming Too," 31 Aug. 2017
Here's how the workout is set up: Drop lunge — 35 seconds Burpee crunch — 35 seconds Plank jack hop — 35 seconds Step to jump squat — 35 seconds Pop jacks — 35 seconds Triceps press back — 35 seconds Rest for 12 seconds in between each move.

— meg lappe, SELF, "A 20-Minute HIIT Workout You Can Do Anywhere," 5 Nov. 2017
Trump hasn’t done diddly-squat compared to Harvey Weinstein.

— conor friedersdorf, The Atlantic, "One Harvey Weinstein in Hollywood, Another in the White House," 10 Oct. 2017
As MetroStars or Red Bulls, New York hasn’t won squatIn 1996, when Major League Soccer kicked off its inaugural season, the franchises in New York and Los Angeles were predicted to be the dominant franchises.

— john smallwood, Philly.com, "Sports Tonight: Watching Rhys Hoskins play never gets boring," 20 Sep. 2017
In the 1971 film they were depicted as squat, green-haired, orange factory workers.

— liam stack, New York Times, "Roald Dahl’s Widow Says ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ Hero Was Supposed to be Black," 15 Sep. 2017
His daughter, Yuni, 33, and grandson, Galang, 9, squat nearby to watch.

— National Geographic, "The Toxic Toll of Indonesia's Gold Mines," 24 May 2016
There are a number of impressive wood bridges that help you to cross a wide wash that runs through the course, and just off the fairways on some holes are round, squat replicas of Indian dwellings, called kiicha, that were used on the land.

— tod leonard, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Luxury links: Our pro tees off at Barona, Pechanga golf courses," 3 Sep. 2017
These guys are on the slightly larger side, round, and sometimes even a bit squat.

— carla lalli music, Bon Appetit, "4 Recipes for All Those Plums You Couldn't Resist Buying," 30 Aug. 2017

First Known Use of squat

15th century

squat Synonyms

Synonyms

chunky, dumpy, heavyset, squatty, stocky, stout, stubby, stumpy, thickset;

Near Antonyms

delicate, fragile, frail, puny;

lean, skinny, slender, slim, spare, thin;

angular, bony (also boney), gaunt, lank, lanky, rawboned, sinewy;

scraggy, scrawny, slight;

spindly, twiggy, waspish, weedy, willowy, wiry;

chubby, heavy, plump, portly, pudgy, roly-poly, rotund, round, tubby;

squat

noun

Definition of squat

1 a : the act of squatting

b : the posture of one that squats

2 a : a place where one squats

b : the lair of a small animal

the squat of a hare

3 a : an exercise in which a standing person lowers to a position in which the torso is erect and the knees are deeply bent and then rises to an upright position

Note: A squat can be done while holding weights, with a barbell on the upper back, or without weights.

b weight lifting : a lift involving a squat done while holding a barbell on the shoulders; also : a competitive event involving this lift

4 chiefly British : an empty house or building that is occupied by squatters

5 slang : diddly-squat

See squat defined for English-language learners

Examples of squat in a Sentence

He didn't do squat all day.
She lives in a squat.

Recent Examples of squat from the Web

Rather than bend over, why not deep squat down to the trash or do a burpee toward the fast-food wrapper?

— julia terruso, Philly.com, "The latest Scandinavian clean-living craze to hit Philly: 'plogging'," 5 Apr. 2018
Unlike a squat, the lunge forces you to recruit other muscles to maintain balance.

— NBC News, "Got 30 minutes? Try these 5 total-body compound exercises," 4 Apr. 2018
Bench is around 315 [pounds], squat is around 600, and dead lifts are pushing 650-ish.

— edward lee, baltimoresun.com, "Five questions with Maryland men’s lacrosse player Curtis Corley," 4 Apr. 2018
Those chips have become the lingua franca of the visual world, and every single one of them is manufactured in a squat, two-story brick building on Commerce Boulevard in a gritty, industrial section of Carlstadt, N.J.

— bruce falconer, New York Times, "What Is the Perfect Color Worth?," 28 Feb. 2018
Tatum Bell luggage squat: This is sort of like a combine workout to see how many reps a player gets.

— carlos monarrez, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Lions-themed events would liven up 2018 Pro Bowl," 27 Jan. 2018
For the last set of squats, place a chair or bench behind you and sit down with each squat.

— grace gavilanes, PEOPLE.com, "The Inflatable Workout Device Pregnant Khloé Kardashian Can't Get Enough Of," 15 Jan. 2018
On arrival, women were sometimes stripped naked in groups and forced to squat in front of an audience as a male officer inserted his fingers into their genitals.

— amanda erickson, Washington Post, "‘I screamed, but no one came’: The horrifying sexual violence facing Syria’s women and girls," 16 Mar. 2018
In the meantime, the squat, dry landscape of Arizona has been just what the defense ordered.

— amy chozick, New York Times, "Where’s Harvey?," 9 Mar. 2018

First Known Use of squat

1580

SQUAT Defined for English Language Learners

squat

verb

Definition of squat for English Language Learners

: to bend your knees and lower your body so that you are close to your heels or sitting on your heels
: to live in a building or on land without the owner's permission and without paying

squat

adjective

Definition of squat for English Language Learners

: short and thick

squat

noun

Definition of squat for English Language Learners

: a position in which your knees are bent and your body lowered so that you are close to your heels or sitting on your heels
: the least amount : anything at all
: an empty building that squatters live in

SQUAT Defined for Kids

squat

verb \ ˈskwät \

Definition of squat for Students

squatted; squatting

1 : to crouch by bending the knees fully so as to sit on or close to the heels

2 : to settle without any right on land that someone else owns

3 : to settle on government land in order to become its owner

squat

adjective

Definition of squat for Students

squatter; squattest

1 : low to the ground

2 : having a short thick body

squat

noun

Definition of squat for Students

: a position in which the knees are fully bent and the body sits on or close to the heels

Learn More about squat

See words that rhyme with squat Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for squat Spanish Central: Translation of squat Nglish: Translation of squat for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of squat for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about squat

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squat

Definition of squat

Examples of squat in a Sentence

Recent Examples of squat from the Web

Origin and Etymology of squat

squat Synonyms

Synonyms

Related Words

squat

Definition of squat

squatly

squatness

Recent Examples of squat from the Web

First Known Use of squat

squat Synonyms

Synonyms

Near Antonyms

Related Words

squat

Definition of squat

Examples of squat in a Sentence

Recent Examples of squat from the Web

First Known Use of squat

SQUAT Defined for English Language Learners

squat

Definition of squat for English Language Learners

squat

Definition of squat for English Language Learners

squat

Definition of squat for English Language Learners

SQUAT Defined for Kids

squat

Definition of squat for Students

squat

Definition of squat for Students

squat

Definition of squat for Students

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