side-eye

Also side·eye
Or side eye

[sahyd-ahy]

noun

1. a sidelong look used to express contempt, criticism, suspicion, curiosity, or doubt.

   Family holidays—the perfect time to face intrusive questions and the side-eye your great-aunt gives you at the dinner table.

   I don't want to eat at a restaurant where we'll be getting the side-eye all night for having a baby in tow.

verb (used with or without object)

1. to express contempt, criticism, suspicion, curiosity, or doubt with or as if with a sidelong look.

   Two things make me side-eye this story: the improbable plot and the unbelievable ending.

   Don't side-eye just yet, let me explain.

Word History and Origins

Origin of side-eye¹

First recorded in 1825–30

Example Sentences

Many will have seen a much-reproduced photograph of Sophia Loren giving side-eye to Mansfield pouring out of a dress at a Hollywood function without being able to identify either of them.

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I got the side-eye from a seasoned sportswriter who then explained that Rose was simply practicing what, years later, would be called “grooming.”

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He got the occasional side-eye as he canvassed door-to-door in all-white neighborhoods.

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No one loves their city quite like Chicagoans do, with a swaggering loyalty that blurs civic pride into something closer to religious conviction, a hometown devotion that doubles as a perfectly seared side-eye to the coasts.

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There’s no side-eye, no resentment, no “Yankee go home” — just genuine, wholehearted gratitude.

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