English

Noun

sit-inner ‎(plural sit-inners)

1. A nonviolent protester who participates in a sit-in.
   • 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail":

     I wish you had commended the Negro sit-inner and demonstrators for their sublime courage.

   • 1967, John M. Orbell, "Protest Participation among Southern Negro College Students," The American Political Science Review, vol. 61, no. 2, p. 448:

     The interview schedule included two questions asking sit-inners for their perceptions of what their college administrators and professors thought about what they were doing.

   • 1998, Francesca Polletta, "“It Was like a Fever ...” Narrative and Identity in Social Protest," Social Problems, vol. 45, no. 2, p. 145:

     The equation of student and sit-inner on a wide scale was in part the result of strategic framing efforts by representatives of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.