alongside

American  

[uh-lawng-sahyd, uh-long-] / əˈlɔŋˈsaɪd, əˈlɒŋ- /

adverb

1. along, by, at, or to the side of something.

   We brought the boat alongside.

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preposition

1. beside; by the side of.

   The dog ran alongside me all the way.

2. Informal. alongside of, compared with.

   Alongside of his brother, he is no student at all.

alongside British  

/ əˈlɒŋˌsaɪd /

preposition

1. (often foll by of) along the side of; along beside

   alongside the quay

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adverb

1. along the side of some specified thing

   come alongside

Etymology

Origin of alongside

First recorded in 1700–10; along + side ¹

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

Those who worked closely within that period describe Arteta's time alongside Guardiola at City not just as an apprenticeship.

From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026

Charles Schwab’s plan to allow clients to trade cryptocurrency alongside traditional investments may have positively impacted crypto markets.

From Barron's • Apr. 17, 2026

Sam has encouraged the boy to be more conscientious with his studies and has been learning alongside him for years, picking up his schoolbooks and offering ideas on how to make the assignments more meaningful.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026

“As the lineman would go down the street, bringing cable to the city, the people would run alongside their trucks, bang on his side, and say, ‘When can we have it?’

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

All this meant that when Louis Lépine and Alphonse Bertillon investigated the Mona Lisa theft, they did so alongside a police force of fictional detectives and a gang of fictional thieves.

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day