sideshow
Americannoun
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a minor show or exhibition in connection with a principal one, as at a circus.
-
any subordinate event or matter.
noun
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a small show or entertainment offered in conjunction with a larger attraction, as at a circus or fair
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a subordinate event or incident
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sideshow
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50
Explanation
The tattooed lady, sword swallower, and frog man are some of the people you might meet at a sideshow, a smaller show that's part of a carnival or circus. A sideshow is also something that distracts from a main event. The first sideshows happened at the Barnum & Bailey Circus, from the idea that some performers would be better viewed up close, instead of in a large tent. The popularity of sideshows grew through the first half of the 20th century. Attractions ranged from so-called "freaks" like the contortionists to tricks like sword swallowing and fire breathing. Today sideshow is often used for something that takes attention away from what's really important.
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:
“AI is no longer a sideshow, it is serving as a significant revenue contributor,” analyst Yi Fu Lee says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Surrealism continues to fuel artists’ and viewers’ imaginations, but it has increasingly become art’s carnival sideshow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 27, 2025
Excitement over future AI business has largely reduced Cipher’s existing operations to a sideshow.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2025
Graham and Van der Merwe's continuing battle to end their respective careers as Scotland's all-time top try scorer is another entertaining sideshow.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2025
On one side, a group of black men struggles to put up the sideshow banners.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Several thousand people paid real money to come cheer a dozen teams at the debut event set for Saturday in St. Augustine, with contests and sideshows inspired by real events from America’s most surreal state.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 23, 2024
Consider the tourist exhibits in ancient Sparta, which by Roman times had become a theme park of wonders and sideshows.
From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2024
Street takeovers, or sideshows as they are known, typically draw large crowds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2024
But these often felt like sideshows, guidebooks: boosterish accessories to a main event that is now struggling to regain and maintain its centrality in international culture.
From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2023
Remembering Emma’s stories of performing in traveling sideshows with Miss Peregrine and the others, I turned to her and asked, “Are they peculiar?”
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
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.
