alongside
Americanadverb
preposition
-
beside; by the side of.
The dog ran alongside me all the way.
-
Informal. alongside of, compared with.
Alongside of his brother, he is no student at all.
preposition
adverb
Etymology
Origin of alongside
Explanation
Use the adverb alongside when two things are right next to each other, like a boat and a dock or a hunter and her loyal dog. If you pull up alongside your friend's car in a parking lot, it means that you've parked directly beside it. Alongside can also imply cooperation, as when a baker's assistant works alongside him, kneading dough and wiping flour off the counter. Alongside was once a phrase, either "along side" or "along the side," both primarily used in a nautical sense, to talk about boats. In the 1700s it became a single word.
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.
“We built Harvey II closely alongside our customers,” co-founder and CEO Winston Weinberg said on LinkedIn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Last year, she took home the top prize alongside Australian conservationist Robert Irwin; in 2014, she took home her first Mirrorball Trophy alongside actor Alfonso Ribeiro.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
"Higher employment costs, alongside wider economic uncertainty, mean recruitment is being paused, with younger and less experienced workers hit hardest," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
The video even featured images of former presidential aide Andriy Yermak and parliamentary faction leader David Arakhamia, alongside blurred photographs of other figures within Zelensky's entourage.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Gelifen couldn’t yet fly alongside her, so she tucked him into her jumper, his beaked face protruding from the blue wool at the top.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Definitions 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.
