sidebar

noun

side·​bar ˈsīd-ˌbär 

1

a

: a short news story or graphic accompanying and presenting sidelights of a major story

b

: something incidental : sidelight

a sidebar to the essay's central theme

2

: a conference between the judge, the lawyers, and sometimes the parties to a case that the jury does not hear

Examples of sidebar in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The drama world premiered in Venice’s Spotlight sidebar in September, winning the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film. —Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 14 Oct. 2025

Tallinn’s Baltic Event Co-Production Market – an industry sidebar to the Black Nights Film Festival – has unveiled exclusively to Variety the strong line up of 15 European titles from 13 countries competing for the hefty €20,000 ($23,200) Eurimages Co-Production Development Award. —Annika Pham, Variety, 13 Oct. 2025

Congressional offices and the administration alike have been nixing meetings that are not explicitly about the shutdown, killing any sidebar conversations about other legislation. —Phil Elliott, Time, 8 Oct. 2025

In the end, his performance became a sidebar of the main storyline. —Drew Vonscio, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1928, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for sidebar

• abattoir
• alcazar
• autocar
• avatar
• belshazzar
• caviar
• caviare
• cinnabar
• commissar
• condylar
• deodar
• handlebar

Legal Definition

sidebar

noun

side·​bar ˈsīd-ˌbär 

: sidebar conference

had failed to request a sidebar before injecting the collateral offense into the trial

—Dockery v. State, 659 So. 2d 219 (1994)

also : the place near or before the bench where a sidebar conference takes place

the judge informed both attorneys…that they…could stand at sidebar while questions were posed

—Commonwealth v. Urena, 632 N.E.2d 1200 (1994)

compare bench, stand

sidebar adjective