Word.ws English Dictionary

side-eye

/ˈsaɪdˌaɪ/

side-eye noun: a sidelong look, particularly of animosity, judgment, or suspicion.

side-eye: a sidelong look, particularly of animosity, judgment, or suspicion
Image: jdeeringdavis from San Francisco, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

side-eye (countable and uncountable, plural side-eyes)

  1. A sidelong look, particularly of animosity, judgment, or suspicion.
    • Near-synonyms: evil eye, stink eye (see more there)
    • I'm going to admit that the opening strains sound a wee bit "demo from a home studio," and that the title itself – paired with any other artist – would probably result in a side eye and a quip about done-to-death, cheese-pop metaphors.2009 November 17, Michael Slezak, “Kris Allen: A Track-by-track Analysis of His Self-titled Debut Album”, in Entertainment Weekly, New York, N.Y.: Entertainment Weekly, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived...
    Synonyms:
    evil eye, stink eye

Verb

side-eye (third-person singular simple present side-eyes, present participle side-eyeing or (rare) side-eying, simple past and past participle side-eyed)

  1. (transitive) To look at out of the corner of one's eye, particularly with animosity, or in a judgmental or suspicious manner.
    • When I'm working my attention isn't caught straight ahead into the blinkered page, it's side eyeing whatever's peripheral, whatever's random.2003, Faye Kicknosway, “Hat Trick”, in Mixed Plate: New and Selected Poems (Wesleyan Poetry), Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, →ISBN, page xiv
    • When we fell out in front for the trek to breakfast, we side-eyed Walter when he walked out the door. Me looking to find some something. In his eyes. In his walk. In the pores of his skin. Some sign. Any sign.2004, Lee Stringer, chapter 20, in Sleepaway School: Stories from a Boy’s Life, New York, N.Y.: Seven Stories Press, →ISBN, page 119

side-eye meaning in Tamil

side-eye in Tamil

முகஞ்சுளிப்பு

Examples of side-eye in a sentence

  • [Billy] Squier's band makes a valiant effort to match his camp quotient, with lots of open shirts, exposed chest hair and sexy side-eyes to the camera.2010 January 12, Jennifer Cooke, “Billy Squier As a Revolutionary?”, in PopMatters, archived from the original on 03 Aug 2019:
  • Side-eye, that sidelong glance favored by shade queens like Mariah Carey [and] devil-may-care rebels like Rihanna, is finally being acknowledged in the canon [the Merriam–Webster Dictionary].2017 March 16, Cady Lang, “A Recent History of Notable Celebrity Side-Eye”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC...
  • "If you look closely at Benjamin's face in that picture, he's got amazing side-eye,” [Anderson] Cooper joked.2019 April 11, Jen Juneau, “Anderson Cooper Jokes about Pal Andy Cohen’s ‘Judgy’ Baby Son Benjamin: ‘Amazing Side-Eye’”, in People, New...
  • Not the best on the tour, not even the best in the past month, but it went off without a hitch, despite everyone on the crew side-eyeing Dan, looking for him to start acting strange again.2014, Z. Rider, chapter 7, in Ashley Davis, editor, Suckers: A Horror Novel, Erwin, Tenn.: Dark Ride Publishing, →ISBN, page 62:

Synonyms of side-eye

Forms of side-eye

Noun
pluralside-eyes
alternative formside eye
Verb
third-person singular presentside-eyes
present participleside-eyeing
past participleside-eyed
pastside-eyed
present participle (rare)side-eying

Origin of side-eye

From side + eye.

Questions about side-eye

What does side-eye mean?
Side-eye means a sidelong look, particularly of animosity, judgment, or suspicion.
What is side-eye in Tamil?
Side-eye in Tamil is முகஞ்சுளிப்பு. See Side-eye meaning in Tamil.
How do you use side-eye in a sentence?
[Billy] Squier's band makes a valiant effort to match his camp quotient, with lots of open shirts, exposed chest hair and sexy side-eyes to the camera.
What part of speech is side-eye?
Side-eye can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce side-eye?
Side-eye is pronounced /ˈsaɪdˌaɪ/ (UK).
What is the plural of side-eye?
The plural of side-eye is side-eyes.

Words near side-eye in the dictionary

  1. side-effect
  2. side-effect-free
  3. side-effected
  4. side-effecting
  5. side-effects
  6. side-eye
  7. side-eyed
  8. side-eyeing
  9. side-eyes
  10. side-eying
  11. side-foot

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: side-eye (page history and authors); side-eye (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-side-eye.oga.

Cite this entry: “side-eye.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/side-eye. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.