SIDEWAYS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sideways mean? 

• SIDEWAYS (adjective)
  The adjective SIDEWAYS has 1 sense:

1. (of movement) at an angle

  Familiarity information: SIDEWAYS used as an adjective is very rare.

• SIDEWAYS (adverb)
  The adverb SIDEWAYS has 4 senses:

1. with one side forward or to the front

2. from the side; obliquely

3. toward one side

4. to, toward or at one side

  Familiarity information: SIDEWAYS used as an adverb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SIDEWAYS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of movement) at an angle

Synonyms:

crabwise; sideways

Similar:

oblique (slanting or inclined in direction or course or position--neither parallel nor perpendicular nor right-angled)

• SIDEWAYS (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

With one side forward or to the front

Synonyms:

sideway; sideways; sidewise

Context example:

crabs seeming to walk sidewise

Sense 2

Meaning:

From the side; obliquely

Synonyms:

sideway; sideways; sidewise

Context example:

scenes viewed sidewise

Sense 3

Meaning:

Toward one side

Synonyms:

sideway; sideways; sidewise

Context example:

a figure moving sidewise in the shadows

Sense 4

Meaning:

To, toward or at one side

Synonyms:

obliquely; sidelong; sideways

Context example:

darting eyes looking sidelong out of a wizened face

 Context examples 

“Nothing come of it,” he explained, looking at me sideways.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I now glanced sideways at this piece of architecture.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

You can just see if you look at it sideways where the sharp spring like a viper’s tooth emerges as you open it.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Abnormal sideways curvature of the spine that is present at birth.

(Congenital Postural Scoliosis, NCI Thesaurus)

At the same instant, he threw himself forward and I leapt sideways towards the bows.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He swears that the shadow of a man’s head turned sideways was clearly visible on the blind, and that this shadow was certainly not that of Peter Carey, whom he knew well.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now he suddenly turned himself sideways, and all I could see of him was tangled hair with a red, protruding ear.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He rose, and the two long lines of brothers followed his example, looking sideways with scared faces at the angry prelate.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It may have brought an unexpected expense that knocked you sideways or a medical procedure or operation you didn’t anticipate, as the eighth house rules surgery and methods doctors use to treat you.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)