side dish

American  

noun

side dishes plural

1. a serving of a portion of food in addition to the principal food, usually on a separate dish.

2. the small additional dish used for such food.

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side dish British  

noun

1. a portion of food served in addition to the main dish

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• side dishes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of side dish

First recorded in 1715–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

side dish

Play is the primary side dish at “7 Paintings,” a tech-infused dinner theater that aims to be a crash course in fine art.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

As a soothing side dish, I recommend her malawax, a slightly sweet cardamom-scented pancake that goes well with breakfast coffee.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

For weeks, salacious talk swirled in campaign circles, ricocheted through email chains and was served up, like a buzzy side dish, over gossipy lunches from Sacramento to San Diego.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026

There’s mast-o-khiar, a Persian side dish and dip that’s a mix of yogurt, cucumber, dried mint and walnuts.

From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2026

But the rest of the meal was authentic, including the excess of chilies combined with tomato and garlic, and the side dish of traditional red rice.

From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson