SINCE 1828
inside
noun
in·side
| \ (ˌ)in-ˈsīd
, ˈin-ˌsīd
\
, ˈin-ˌsīd
\
Definition of inside
(Entry 1 of 4)
1a
: an interior or internal part or place : the part within
b
: inward nature, thoughts, or feeling
2
: an inner side or surface
3a
: a position of power, trust, or familiarity
only someone on the inside could have told
b
: confidential information
has the inside on what happened at the convention
4
: the area nearest a specified or implied point of reference: such as
a
: the side of home plate nearest the batter
b
: the middle portion of a playing area
c
: the area near or underneath the basket in basketball
inside
adverbDefinition of inside (Entry 2 of 4)
1
: on the inner side
2
: in or into the interior
stayed inside during the storm
3
: to or on the inside
4
: in prison
inside
adjectiveDefinition of inside (Entry 3 of 4)
1
: of, relating to, or being on or near the inside
an inside pitch
2a
: relating or known to a select group
inside information
inside
prepositionDefinition of inside (Entry 4 of 4)
1a
: in or into or as if in or into the interior of
waited inside the church
b
: on the inner side of
just inside the door
2
: within
inside an hour
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Synonyms & Antonyms for inside
Synonyms: Noun
Synonyms: Adjective
behind-the-scenes, confidential, esoteric, hush-hush, hushed, intimate, nonpublic, private, privy, secret
Antonyms: Noun
Antonyms: Adjective
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Examples of inside in a Sentence
Noun
The inside of the church is quite beautiful. I've never seen the inside of a computer before.Adverb
I cleaned my car inside and out. The candy is chewy inside. We went inside during the storm. Step inside and look at our menu. He got put inside for burglary.Adjective
the inside edge of her foot He gave us an inside view of the situation. I got the inside story from a friend who works there.Preposition
We waited inside the store. Several people were trapped inside the burning building. She kept her hands inside her pockets. His feelings were building up inside him. He lives inside the city limits. Sources inside the company indicate that there are disagreements about the change in management.
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
Segura, who belted an inside-the-park homer in the first inning, doubled home another run in the third with a blooper down the left-field line. — Robert Avery, Houston Chronicle, "Pasadena Bronco All-Stars open Directors Tournament with 16-4 win over Crosby," 15 June 2019 His instincts are really showing up as an inside ‘backer. — Childs Walker, baltimoresun.com, "Five Things We Learned from the Ravens’ OTAs and minicamp," 14 June 2019 Walker suspended an antenna inside the ball and sprayed a circle with metallic paint on the inside to create a reflector. — Daniel Oberhaus, WIRED, "New Space Telescopes Could Look Like Giant Beach Balls," 11 June 2019 On the next play, Bellevue’s Will Ryan took an inside handoff and went untouched 23 yards for the first TD of the game. — James Weber, Cincinnati.com, "St. Elizabeth Health East-West All-Star football win icing on the cake for Dayton senior," 6 June 2019 Two plays later, Sudfeld went to Shelton Gibson, who had the inside on a slant, but McKinnon ran with him step for step and simply reached around the receiver and swatted the ball to the turf. — Jeff Mclane, https://www.inquirer.com, "Eagles Practice Observations: J.J. Arcega-Whiteside shines in the red zone; Sidney Jones caps solid OTAs with an INT; Malik Jackson arrives," 5 June 2019 One of the main goals of the law was to help finance the opening of the more than 2,000 mass graves that dot Spain in order to identify the remains of those inside, most of whom died during the Spanish Civil War, which lasted from 1936 to 1939. — Raphael Minder, New York Times, "Franco’s Exhumation Is Delayed by Spanish Court," 4 June 2019 Expanding the torso for more spaciousness and flexibility when moving and with room for an extra layer, Arc’teryx also added a softer flannel backer material on the inside for increased comfort. — Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, "Everything That Goes Into Making an Arc'teryx Jacket," 24 May 2019 Researchers deployed traps with bait wrapped carefully to avoid falsely contaminating a creature's insides with plastic. — Sarah Gibbens And Laura Parker, National Geographic, "Creatures in the deepest trenches of the sea are eating plastic," 28 Feb. 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Adverb
But about 20 people interviewed by AP including migrants, officials and rights workers who’ve been inside, described it as sorely overcrowded and filthy, and alleged repeated abusive treatment by agents tasked with running it. — Washington Post, "Overcrowding, abuse seen at Mexico migrant detention center," 17 June 2019 For years, his father’s presence was required, to bait the hook or untangle the line or take apart the reel to see what was wrong inside. — Dave Orrick, Twin Cities, "The story of the 6-year-old boy who made his dad take him fishing," 15 June 2019 These typically include stunts such as cartwheels and aerials, as well as step dancing both inside and outside of the ropes. — Tyra Mcclung, courant.com, "A double-dutch championship has returned to Connecticut and there are high hopes for the future of the sport here," 15 June 2019 Technology The Evoque serves up a smorgasbord of new tech features and capabilities inside and out. — Houston Chronicle, "Range Rover Evoque gets added finesse, mild-hybrid versions," 14 June 2019 The entrance Jenner’s her home was draped in red and inside there were Gilead flags everywhere. — Jenna Milliner-waddell, refinery29.com, "Kylie Jenner, A Big Handmaid’s Tale Fan, Threw A Gilead-Themed Birthday Party," 10 June 2019 McCann said all machines would be inside and there would be few deliveries. — Karen Caffarini, Post-Tribune, "Radio-controlled plane group wants OK to use old Hobart drag strip," 7 June 2019 The buckets were covered with lids, but had holes in them so the elephants could smell what was inside. — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, "Elephants Use Smell to Sniff Out Snack Quantities," 5 June 2019 Not all the 21 layers are sewn; 16 of them, latex and Mylar, Dacron and Kapton, are glued together, no wrinkling allowed, the top layer almost indiscernibly larger than the bottom one, since what is outside must always be bigger than what is inside. — Oliver Morton, WIRED, "The Beauty and Madness of Sending a Man to the Moon," 4 June 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
Wipe paint over the top and back of the box, both sides of the doors and the inside bottom. — Kris Coronado, Washington Post, "With this cardboard version, you can invite family and friends to take a book, return a book.," 19 June 2019 For the first time in two years, the lights were on inside Holocaust Museum Houston. — Amber Elliott, Houston Chronicle, "Holocaust Museum Houston surprises Sue Smith, remembers late wildcatter Lester Smith at "First Look"," 17 June 2019 Police could not enter the home because inside were three small children and an elderly woman. — cleveland.com, "Woman suspended from job shows up anyway, is arrested: Cleveland Heights police blotter," 14 June 2019 Fifty years after its first publication, seventy-four years after Kurt Vonnegut was inside Slaughterhouse-Five during the firebombing of Dresden, what does his great novel have to say to us? — Salman Rushdie, The New Yorker, "What Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five” Tells Us Now," 13 June 2019 Sit down with Susan Goldberg, editor in chief of National Geographic, to get an inside perspective on how the magazine’s powerful storytelling has shed light on global issues and served as a change agent throughout history. — National Geographic, "Journalism and Multimedia High School Workshop at Nat Geo in Washington, D.C.," 12 June 2019 During the investigation, Mueller was quite willing to examine peripheral issues such as the scoundrelly behavior of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and the inside lobbying of Paul Manafort for foreign governments. — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, "The FBI Tragedy: Elites above the Law," 11 June 2019 As Castillo looked toward the plate before his ninth pitch, Barnhart slammed his mitt in the dirt on the inside part of the plate. — Bobby Nightengale, Cincinnati.com, "Luis Castillo pitches well, but Oscar Mercado's walk-off single drops Cincinnati Reds," 11 June 2019 As a player who’s been at multiple positions throughout college and the WNBA, Thomas is able to create shots and be a strong inside presence while also being one of the Sun’s best defenders. — Kelli Stacy, courant.com, "Alyssa Thomas could be the Connecticut Sun’s key to a WNBA championship," 6 June 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Preposition
One solution Gay presented was to make doors lockable from inside the classroom. — Jacob Beltran, ExpressNews.com, "Mother of child killed at Sandy Hook stresses planning ahead of active shooting incidents," 19 June 2019 In two of three practices during minicamp last week, Jackson was impressive inside the red zone. — Mike Preston, baltimoresun.com, "Preston: Confident yet inconsistent, QB Lamar Jackson taking command of Ravens offense," 19 June 2019 Now Emily is scooped up by claw-armed excavators into a giant bag shredder that releases her and the rest of the material from inside its Hefty-brand prison. — Dennis Pillion | Dpillion@al.com, al.com, "Montgomery bet $31 million on future of recycling and its ‘magic garbage machine’," 17 June 2019 However, photos from inside the cathedral showed its cross and altar apparently still intact. — Caitlin O'kane, CBS News, "Notre Dame will hold first mass since devastating fire this Saturday," 14 June 2019 Many testimonials to this Ailey effect come from inside the organization itself: from the dancers, directors and guest choreographers who cite their first experience of Ailey as life-altering. — Brian Seibert, New York Times, "Review: At Ailey, an Overdone Ode to Inspiration and Education," 13 June 2019 Police report that an off-duty police officer was inside Menta Academy providing security during the shooting and assisted in a lockdown protocol. — News-sun Staff, Lake County News-Sun, "Two arrested after shooting outside Waukegan school," 11 June 2019 Police also said surveillance video at the gas station allegedly showed Vysinka inside the store. — Amy Lavalley, Post-Tribune, "Police: Porter Township man faces charges after chase," 10 June 2019 After suspecting drugs were inside the car, the 22-year-old driver Tyrin Pugh-Cox and his 17-year-old brother were searched, Aurora police said in a statement Monday. — Megan Jones, Aurora Beacon-News, "Aurora brothers face charges after traffic stop," 10 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'inside.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Learn More about inside
From the Editors at Merriam-Webster
The Inside Scoop on 'Inside Baseball'
The Inside Scoop on 'Inside Baseball'
Plus 'inside joke', 'inside job', and other 'inside' words
Dictionary Entries near inside
Statistics for inside
Last Updated
19 Jun 2019
Look-up Popularity
Time Traveler for inside
The first known use of inside was in the 14th century
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More Definitions for inside
inside
noun
English Language Learners Definition of inside
(Entry 1 of 4)
: an inner side, edge, or surface of something
: an inner part of something (such as a building or machine)
informal
: the inner parts (such as the heart and stomach) of a person's body
inside
adverbEnglish Language Learners Definition of inside (Entry 2 of 4)
: in the inner part of something
: in or into the inner part of a building, room, etc.
informal
: in prison
inside
adjectiveEnglish Language Learners Definition of inside (Entry 3 of 4)
: located on or near the inner side, edge, or surface of something
: coming from someone within a group or organization : relating to or having information that is known only to a special group of people
: done by someone within a group or organization
inside
prepositionEnglish Language Learners Definition of inside (Entry 4 of 4)
: in or into the inner part of (something or someone)
: within the borders or limits of (something)
: before the end of (a period of time)
See the full definition for inside in the English Language Learners Dictionary
inside
noun
in·side
| \ in-ˈsīd
, ˈin-ˌsīd\
, ˈin-ˌsīd\
Kids Definition of inside
(Entry 1 of 4)
1
: an inner side, surface, or space
the inside of a box
2
: the inner parts of a person or animal
—usually used in pl.
inside
adverbKids Definition of inside (Entry 2 of 4)
1
: on the inner side
I cleaned my car inside and out.
2
: in or into the interior
Go inside.
inside
adjectiveKids Definition of inside (Entry 3 of 4)
1
: relating to or being on or near the inside
an inside wall
2
: relating or known to a certain few people
inside information
inside
prepositionKids Definition of inside (Entry 4 of 4)
1
: to or on the inside of
They are inside the house.
2
: before the end of : within
I'll finish inside an hour.
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