aisle

American  

[ahyl] / aɪl /

noun

• aisles
  plural

1. a walkway between or along blocks or rows of seats in a theater, classroom, airplane, etc..

   We were glad to get seats next to the aisle for that flight.

2. Architecture.

   1. a longitudinal division of an interior area, such as in a church, separated from the main area by an arcade or the like.

   2. any of the longitudinal divisions of a church or similarly shaped building.

3. the aisle, the divide or division between two political factions or parties.

   The Democrat reached across the aisle to form a bipartisan coalition.

   Her proposal was criticized by folks on both sides of the aisle.

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idioms

1. in the aisles. rolling.

2. walk / go down the aisle, to get married.

   Fewer couples are walking down the aisle these days.

aisle British  

/ aɪl /

noun

1. a passageway separating seating areas in a theatre, church, etc; gangway

2. a lateral division in a church flanking the nave or chancel

3. informal (of an audience) overcome with laughter

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• aisled
  adjective
• aisleless
  adjective
• unaisled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• aisles
  plural

Etymology

Origin of aisle

First recorded in 1350–1400, and in 1880–85 aisle for def. 3; alteration (with ai from French aile “wing”) of earlier ile, isle (with s from isle ), from Middle French, from Latin āla “wing,” cognate with axle; see ala; sense of aisle def. 3 derives from the central aisle dividing Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and in other legislative chambers

Explanation

An aisle is a passageway, often between seating areas or shelves. Brides and grooms walk down an aisle at weddings, while you might head to the cookie aisle in the supermarket. An aisle is essentially a passageway between something. You have to walk down an aisle to reach your seat at a theater or concert hall, to get to your seat on a crowded airplane, or to reach the produce at your local supermarket. The ai in aisle is pronounced like a long i, so the word sounds like isle rather than ail.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

aisle aisles

The only dinner in that day’s haul had come from the freezer aisle.

From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026

Other corners of the produce aisle are suffering, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Across the aisle, opposition leader Supriya Sule briefly stepped outside the debate to marvel at the aburdity of the moment.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

Pro 7, which ran an advertising campaign in which their mascot held an Olympic flame or curled, skated or bob-sledded down a supermarket aisle, was fined a total of 550,000 euros.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

The four of them immediately took the berth across the aisle and drew the heavy red curtain for privacy.

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

Over the next four decades, the store became the country’s largest international supermarket chain, known for its kaleidoscopic pantry aisles, frozen seafood and neatly packed containers of banchan.

From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026

He came home after an Nvidia developer conference with Theo, a robot dog trained on Lester’s own sermons that trots his church’s aisles on Sundays.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

Even on an early Tuesday afternoon in July, the brightly lit, bustling space hums with high energy as a lunchtime crowd of New Yorkers tightly navigates the narrow aisles with oversized canvas bags.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

Thirsty international sports fans gathered for pictures outside different Erewhons, wandered their aisles smiling, and, of course, picked up pricey smoothies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026

When we find a store called Paper Tokyo, we walk down separate aisles that stop right below our chins.

From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Related Words

• avenue
• corridor
• hallway
• lane
• path