sideline

American  

[sahyd-lahyn] / ˈsaɪdˌlaɪn /

noun

• sidelines
  plural

1. a line at the side of something.

2. a business or activity pursued in addition to one's primary business; a second occupation.

3. an additional or auxiliary line of goods.

   a grocery store with a sideline of household furnishings.

4. Sports.

   1. either of the two lines defining the side boundaries of a field or court.

   2. sidelines, the area immediately beyond either sideline, where the substitute players sit.

5. sidelines, the position or point of view taken by a person who observes an activity or situation but does not directly participate in it.

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verb (used with object)

• sidelines,
  present (3rd person singular)
• sidelined,
  past participle,  past
• sidelining
  present participle

1. to render incapable of participation, especially in anything involving vigorous, physical action, as a sport.

   An injury to his throwing arm sidelined the quarterback for two weeks.

sideline British  

/ ˈsaɪdˌlaɪn /

noun

1. sport a line that marks the side boundary of a playing area

2. a subsidiary interest or source of income

3. an auxiliary business activity or line of merchandise

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verb

1. to prevent (a player) from taking part in a game

2. to prevent (a person) from pursuing a particular activity, operation, career, etc

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• sidelines
  plural

Participles

• sidelining
  present
• sidelined
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sideline
  simple
• sidelines
  simple
• have sidelined
  perfect
• has sidelined
  perfect
• am sidelining
  progressive
• are sidelining
  progressive
• is sidelining
  progressive
• have been sidelining
  perfect progressive
• has been sidelining
  perfect progressive

Past

• sidelined
  simple
• had sidelined
  perfect
• was sidelining
  progressive
• were sidelining
  progressive
• had been sidelining
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sideline
  simple
• will have sidelined
  perfect
• will be sidelining
  progressive
• will have been sidelining
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of sideline

An Americanism dating back to 1685–95; side ¹ + line ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sideline sidelines sidelined sidelining

The reason was right there on the Philadelphia sideline.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Nacua recalled a sideline catch in that game as “one of my favorite catches of my career.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

That person must film the entire game, whether from the press box or the sideline.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

This time, it’s with Mendoza, who won last season’s college football national championship with Indiana and now has the luxury of learning Kubiak’s system from the sideline.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

He was starting to level out his swing, and he even tried sending one or two down a sideline.

From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt

“I can sleep less and less,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Paris show.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

“I don’t believe in saying now what I might do at the meetings that we have in the balance of this year,” Warsh said on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank annual meeting in Bangkok.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 17, 2026

Since late February, yields have increased by an average of around 110 basis points, especially on longer maturities, Dabla-Norris told AFP on the sidelines of the IMF's Annual Meetings in Bangkok.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

The overall consumption sentiment remains weak for Chinese residents, and they tend to remain on the sidelines instead of make purchase decisions amid price wars among Chinese automakers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Tough Will spent most of his games sitting on the sidelines eating orange slices.

From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds

When Sexton was sidelined at the beginning of the preseason, Redick said he was not worried about the guard’s status for the Oct.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

The British number five reached the third round at the Beijing Open earlier this month in her first WTA tournament for six months, having been sidelined with a stress fracture in her back.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Garrett, the reigning NFL defensive player of the year, has been sidelined since undergoing left knee surgery after the Rams’ season-opening defeat by the San Francisco 49ers in Australia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026

His replacement, Fred Barron, was sidelined, too, after Mr. David refused to work with him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

According to a study by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, each year the average jockey is injured three times and spends a total of almost eight weeks sidelined by injuries incurred on the track.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

Feeling a little terrified about how quickly technology seems to be sidelining humanity?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

So much can go wrong if he’s pitching, and any pitching injury could have the double whammy of sidelining him as a hitter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026

And while previous TV adaptations root into the emotional interiority of their male characters while sidelining female desire, “The Forsytes” places more narrative purpose in the hands of its women.

From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2026

But the company’s chief executive, Brian McNamara, is sidelining aspirations to be a major player in the field right now due to the arrival of blockbuster drugs like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026

From trade deals to cars, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are increasingly joining forces to steer the EU agenda -- risking sidelining French President Emmanuel Macron.

From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026

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