sandal
1 Americannoun
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a shoe consisting of a sole of leather or other material fastened to the foot by thongs or straps.
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any of various low shoes or slippers.
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a light, low, rubber overshoe covering only the front part of a woman's high-heeled shoe.
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a band or strap that fastens a low shoe or slipper on the foot by passing over the instep or around the ankle.
verb (used with object)
noun
noun
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a light shoe consisting of a sole held on the foot by thongs, straps, etc
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a strap passing over the instep or around the ankle to keep a low shoe on the foot
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sandal1
1350–1400; < French sandale; replacing Middle English sandalie < Latin sandalium < Greek sandálion, equivalent to sándal ( on ) sandal + -ion diminutive suffix
Origin of sandal2
1350–1400; Middle English sandell < Medieval Latin sandalum < Late Greek sántalon, dissimilated variant of sándanon ≪ Sanskrit candana
Explanation
A sandal is a lightweight, open shoe that you're most likely to wear in the summer time. If you want your toes to show, buy some sandals! The difference between a sandal and a conventional shoe is that much of your feet are exposed when you wear sandals. Because of their strappy form, sandals are most common in the warmest months and the warmest climates. The oldest known sandals are about 10,000 years old, and the ancient Greeks commonly wore them. In fact, the word sandal comes from the Greek root sandalon.
Vocabulary lists containing sandal
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:
A sandal visible in one clip matched the sandals Baby was wearing when she was arrested around noon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
The winner of the recent Mexico City edition was a fresh-faced Kaled Rosales Salazar, who mimicked lassoing and leading his opponent, Quintana, like a horse, with a giant white sandal as a prop.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
Birkenstock CEO Oliver Reichert highlighted the trend during the German sandal and clog maker’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
You could always opt for the fisherman-style sandal, which looks like something a history teacher might have worn in the 1970s.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
The sandal ripped from my foot and staked into the ground.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
The second was a Roman copper alloy lamp in the shape of sandaled foot, discovered by a study group in Kent while exploring what is believed to be a small Roman fort.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2025
Migrants leave home on sandaled feet with dreams of escaping poverty.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 29, 2019
Also in this mud layer, the scientists found preserved footsteps of sandaled adults and barefoot children, as well as signs that the llamas were dragged there.
From New York Times ● Mar. 6, 2019
Phil was Bohemian, the loudest guy in the grillroom, sandaled and Southern Californian.
From Golf Digest ● Jun. 27, 2018
He noticed that a root lifted itself and stabbed slightly at the man’s sandaled foot.
From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry
Sometimes Joseph, in his slapdash style, put in too much, and the bubbles outgrew the fountain, creating ever-widening concentric foam rings that burst their fragile stickiness on someone’s sandalled foot.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 12, 2019
I could see their sandalled feet, the hems of their clothes.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 6, 2018
You sense from the hands, arms, neck, and one bare shoulder, and the sandalled feet, the whole of a gaunt, sinewy body, which you can all but smell.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 2, 2015
With no wasted episodes, Spartacus never drags its sandalled feet.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 18, 2013
But the slim arms, the spare willowy body, the little white sandalled feet of the little girl—these overcame him with a pitifully amused sense of the disproportion of means to end.
From The Firebrand by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
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.
