adjective
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directed or inclining to one side
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indirect or oblique
adverb
Etymology
Origin of sidelong
Explanation
A sidelong glance or facial expression is directed toward one side, and it's also usually skeptical or suspicious. If your brother promises to clean the whole house, you might react with a sidelong look at him. Sidelong can be used as an adjective or an adverb, so you can give your friend a sidelong glance when she starts reading the wrong paragraph aloud in English class, and you can also look sidelong at the kid beside you who's asleep and snoring at his desk. The adverb is older, and it comes from the Middle English sidlyng.
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.
“I’m turning on you,” Smith replies with a sidelong glance.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 27, 2024
In each of those performances, she conveyed tenderness, compassion and quiet determination in the face of indignity with little more than a tearful gaze or a knowing sidelong glance.
From New York Times • Mar. 16, 2023
And Andrea Riseborough is terrific expressing considerable disdain with just a sidelong glance.
From Salon • Nov. 4, 2021
Prioritizing an area with such deep pockets might garner sidelong glances from critics of big business’s influence in homelessness strategy.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 26, 2021
Arm looked sidelong at him and was amazed.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
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.
