sidle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
sidles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sidled,
past participle, past
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sidling
present participle
-
to move sideways or obliquely.
-
to edge along furtively.
noun
verb
-
to move in a furtive or stealthy manner; edge along
-
to move along sideways
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sidlesimple
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sidlessimple
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have sidledperfect
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has sidledperfect
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am sidlingprogressive
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are sidlingprogressive
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is sidlingprogressive
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have been sidlingperfect progressive
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has been sidlingperfect progressive
Past
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sidledsimple
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had sidledperfect
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was sidlingprogressive
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were sidlingprogressive
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had been sidlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sidle
First recorded in 1690–1700; back formation from sideling (earlier spelling sidling misconstrued as present participle of a verb ending in -le )
Explanation
To sidle is to walk, but in a way that's casual, quiet, and a little sneaky. If you want to surprise someone, sidle up to them and say, "Boo!" There’s a TV show where a character’s coworker has a habit of walking so softly that he constantly startles her — she never notices him coming. So of course she buys wrestling shoes and tries to sidle back! Sidling is a type of walking that is super quiet. If you want to leave a party without people noticing, sidle out the door. Sidling is a good way to slip away.
Vocabulary lists containing sidle
"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
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"To Build a Fire," Vocabulary from the short story
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Grade 12, List 6
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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:
Do they sort of sidle up to you in the elevator and say, “Good job”? Or do they ignore you in the cafeteria and hope that this passes?
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
There, instead of sitting across from Emily, Adam elected to sidle up next to her while they drank their Guinnesses.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 27, 2022
His acoustic gleam hinges on boundaries, Saturn’s rings hula-hooping Earth as Sun Ra’s tone-science, distributed as sidle, cackle, ballad and soul.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2022
To get the pulse of the local scene, though, sidle up to the bar inside Isla Bonita Mexican restaurant.
From Seattle Times ● May 18, 2022
When it flares up, I slip between two huge slabs of limestone and sidle down the tight tunnel.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
It then sidles up to a smaller U.S. government jet and elevates its container once again, presumably letting Trump board unnoticed.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
That’s when one satellite sidles up to another and either fixes it or kills it, depending on whose satellite it is and what day of the week it is.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2025
He sidles up, sniffs one of the vehicles, then jumps up and plants two giant paws up on the side of the buggy.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2024
The team is sighing with relief when Kendall, of WDC, sidles up to Kowalcyk, quietly telling her the man next to Paul asked whether he could go inside, too.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 2, 2023
Since then, he occasionally sidles up to me for a lunch-line chat while he chomps on a basket of cafeteria fries.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
Back outside, a crowd surrounded the sisters, but held back until one woman sidled up to the pair and whispered “Photo?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025
Kingsley went back inside and sidled up to the piano where Mercury was practising - it was a new song with the working title Freddie's Thing.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2025
A big, middle-aged Irishman sidled past my friend and muttered, “I thought it was bad in Belfast.”
From Slate ● Jan. 3, 2025
“Hey, handsome,” Blowen called out as he sidled up to his longtime friend that now has only four remaining teeth and spends much of his day napping.
From Seattle Times ● May 1, 2024
As the doors to the ballroom were flung open and the other guests came in, the admiral sidled up to Penelope and spoke quietly into her ear.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
Now it has transformed itself into tumbleweed proper, sidling and bouncing wherever the wind chooses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
There are dozens of courtrooms spread across Floors 12 and 14, and observers and petitioners will bustle in and out, sidling past flocks of press and squads of federal officers.
From Slate ● Oct. 10, 2025
Now it’s been sidling tragically toward it: It is closed, and probably unlikely to reopen in the same place ever again.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2024
McCarthy denied sidling up to Burchett and elbowing him in the kidney, just as he denied the "Trump's not eating" story.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2023
I saw him through the window, seizing his horse’s mane, and mounting in his blundering brutal manner, and sidling and backing away.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
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.
