sidekick
Americannoun
-
a close friend.
-
a confederate or assistant.
noun
Etymology
Origin of sidekick
Explanation
A sidekick is a buddy who comes with you on your adventures. If you’re a superhero, your sidekick helps you fight crime. Electra Woman’s sidekick was the teenage Dyna Girl, and in the ‘70s they defeated villains on TV. A sidekick might be a work assistant, a best friend, or even a devoted dog that follows you to school every day. Sometimes this word signifies an imbalance of power, though; if you say, “This is my sidekick, Sarah," it implies that Sarah has less authority than you do. The origin of this word is unknown, but we do know that it appeared after the terms side-pal and side-partner fell out of fashion.
Vocabulary lists containing sidekick
Superhero Lexicon
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New Kid
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I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005
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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.
Johnny and his sidekick, Ed McMahon, gave adults a relaxing reprieve from the stresses of everyday living by offering light humor without any negative slants.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026
And in Belgium, a rescue cat named Maximus has shot to social media stardom as the bewhiskered sidekick and PR weapon of Prime Minister Bart De Wever.
From Barron's • Feb. 15, 2026
Later, he landed his most prominent role: voicing goofy sidekick Sheen Estévez in the 2001 animated movie “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 10, 2025
You can easily customize with a flat top or sear sidekick, or splurging on a pizza oven, all of which easily connect to the smoker and level up the experience.
From Salon • Nov. 20, 2025
This was probably the one time a pigeon sidekick was useful.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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.
