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

After about 20 minutes, Bedi returned to the courtroom and asked to update the judge in sidebar. —Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune, 6 May 2025

The film will play in the parallel ACID sidebar, run by France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema, on April 15. —Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 24 Apr. 2025

Directors’ Fortnight, the independent sidebar section of the Cannes film festival, run by the French Directors’ Guild, has added one more title to its 2025 selection: Yes! from Israeli director Nadav Lapid. —Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 24 Apr. 2025

Notebooks break down into Sections, which appear in the left-hand sidebar as colorful tabs. —PC Magazine, 14 Apr. 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