aside
Noun pluralasides
Pluralasides
- 1Left out of what is being considered.
Logistics aside, the proposal is sound and worth pursuing.
Personal feelings aside, the committee judged the case fairly.
UsageComes after its noun, usually at the start of a sentence before a comma: joking aside, money aside, the plan works.
Similarapart
- 2In or into a position at one side that leaves the way clear.
The usher waved the crowd aside to clear a path for the stretcher.
Move those chairs aside so we can set up the stage.
UsageUsually after a verb of movement: step aside, move the chairs aside, push something aside.
Similaraway
Note
Most often it follows a verb of movement: step aside, move the chairs aside, push something aside. The word began as Old English on sīdan, literally "on the side." It can even stand alone as a command, as in Hamlet's "But soft! but soft! aside: here comes the king."
- 3Held in reserve to be used later or for a specific purpose, mostly after the verbs put, set, and lay.
The city council set aside two million dollars for road repairs next year.
By October they had laid aside enough firewood to last the whole winter.
UsageBefore or after a noun: set aside money, set money aside. With a pronoun, after: set it aside (not
incorrect: set aside it). - 4A minor related remark, dropped in almost as an afterthought.
The report notes, almost as an aside, that funding has since doubled.
He delivered several asides about local history during the walking tour.
UsageMost often in the phrase as an aside; you can also make an aside.
Similardigression, afterthought, remark, comment
Note
Close kin to the theatrical aside, but at home in writing and argument. Ophiel's The Art and Practice of Caballa Magic (1976) pauses to explain the stage meaning before making one.
Less common meanings
- 5A passing remark made quietly to the person beside you, meant only for them to hear though not strictly private.
During the ceremony she leaned over and whispered an aside to her colleague.
His dry asides kept the back row entertained throughout the meeting.
UsageUsually whisper, mutter or make an aside to someone.
Similarcomment
- 6A brief remark a character speaks to the audience, not heard by the other characters on stage.
Shakespeare often gives Iago asides that reveal his true intentions to the audience.
The actor stepped downstage to deliver an aside before resuming the scene.
UsageActors deliver an aside; a line said this way is spoken in an aside.
Note
A dramatist's device for letting the audience into a character's head. The fiction is that everyone else on stage hears nothing, so a line can carry private thought, irony or a hidden plan without disturbing the scene. Actors deliver an aside, and the convention works only because the audience agrees to the pretense that the speaker has briefly stepped outside the dialogue.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- An aside can reveal a character's thoughts to the audience. en.wikipedia.org
- Other characters are conventionally understood not to hear the aside, allowing concealed intentions to be communicated to the audience. open.edu
- The performed aside depends on the audience accepting the convention that the speech falls outside the dialogue heard by other characters. columbusstate.edu
- 7Lacking perfect symmetry and bent or twisted to one side, used especially of the human body.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Old English on sīdan, literally "on (the) side (of)," became Middle English on side and then aside (also spelled asyde or a-side); in form it amounts to a- plus side. Compare beside.