sidekick
Americannoun
-
sidekicks
plural
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a close friend.
-
a confederate or assistant.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sidekick
Explanation
A sidekick is a buddy who comes with you on your adventures. If you’re a superhero, your sidekick helps you fight crime. Electra Woman’s sidekick was the teenage Dyna Girl, and in the ‘70s they defeated villains on TV. A sidekick might be a work assistant, a best friend, or even a devoted dog that follows you to school every day. Sometimes this word signifies an imbalance of power, though; if you say, “This is my sidekick, Sarah," it implies that Sarah has less authority than you do. The origin of this word is unknown, but we do know that it appeared after the terms side-pal and side-partner fell out of fashion.
Vocabulary lists containing sidekick
Superhero Lexicon
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New Kid
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Comic Book Day
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He and his “Fernwood” sidekick Fred Willard played one of primetime’s first gay couples on “Roseanne,” and Mull guest-hosted “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson” 30 times.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Accompanied by her sidekick and netherworld patron King Grimsquawk – a crowned raven-baby holding a scepter – Workman conjures up one of the funniest small-screen comedies that isn’t officially on TV.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
The professional ballroom dancer also slammed rumors that she was at all dissatisfied with her celebrity pairing alongside 55-year-old Rodriguez, the talk show sidekick to Jimmy Kimmel on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
Melanie Sykes became the new overarching voice of the show, taking over from Black's trusted sidekick, "Our Graham" Skidmore.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
In the panel, the Flint Avenger and her loyal sidekick, Sosie, had been trapped in the island lair of the archvillain, Madame Travatsky.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
"Go!" shouted Ivan Deforge, and without hesitation his 300-kilo hairy sidekicks Karym and Ural leapt through a ring of fire under the dome of the Great Moscow Circus.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
Petrified, she recruited two charismatic friends as alternating sidekicks: daycare owner and activist Dorothy Pitman Hughes, and civil rights attorney Florynce Kennedy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
“Superman” is intended to lead off for several upcoming DC movies, including “Supergirl,” starring Milly Alcock, “Clayface,” and “Dynamic Duo” about the Robins — Batman sidekicks Dick Grayson and Jason Todd.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2025
They’re like Boris and Natasha, if Boris and Natasha had gay sidekicks whose equally unsurprising side plot would’ve made a more thorny and altogether insightful critique of contemporary social politics.
From Salon ● Jan. 31, 2025
The house, the trees, and the sidekicks cast tall shadows that reminded Nicole of an art exhibit she’d seen by an African-American artist.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
