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.
Two voluntary severance schemes have now run at the institution, with previous rounds focused on professional services staff who work alongside academics.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
“It’s fun money,” said Casey who, like Araujo, is a teacher as well as the clock operator at Galaxy games, where she works alongside her husband.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
MAL was one of four blood group systems ratified during the period covered by the organization's 2026 terminology report, alongside ER, CD36 and ATP11C.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
It features Michelle Yeoh as one of the franchise’s artificial-human replicants, who stars alongside Hunter Schafer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
The black Ford bucked and darted around the other automobiles until it was alongside the streetcar.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
