sideshow
Americannoun
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a minor show or exhibition in connection with a principal one, as at a circus.
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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:
The petrodollar was always a sideshow to this deeper story.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
When Leath was charged with the murders of her two husbands a decade later, the confrontation with Walker made news again, but amounted to a baffling and salacious sideshow, its significance unclear.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
But on Friday in Miami, that sideshow collides with boxing's top tier as Paul faces two-time heavyweight world champion and Olympic gold medallist Anthony Joshua.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2025
The magician Ricky Jay’s compendium of actual “unique, eccentric and amazing entertainers” offers a parade of con artists, charlatans, escapologists, daredevils, mesmerists, contortionists and sideshow acts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
In the election, nearly reduced to a sideshow, Wense Grabarek won by 2,245 votes.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
The illegal sideshows have been deadly, as The Times has previously reported.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2024
“There would have been a lot of sideshows if he were to testify that would have, I think, made it a challenge for him,” Blanche said.
From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2024
“At the end of the day, sideshows are best thought of as youthful nonsense,” Texas Monthly’s Jack Herrera writes.
From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2023
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
“People come to sideshows to see stunts and tricks and what-all, and as far as anybody knew that’s exactly what we showed them.”
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" 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.
