sidekick
Americannoun
-
a close friend.
-
a confederate or assistant.
noun
Etymology
Origin of sidekick
Explanation
A sidekick is a buddy who comes with you on your adventures. If you’re a superhero, your sidekick helps you fight crime. Electra Woman’s sidekick was the teenage Dyna Girl, and in the ‘70s they defeated villains on TV. A sidekick might be a work assistant, a best friend, or even a devoted dog that follows you to school every day. Sometimes this word signifies an imbalance of power, though; if you say, “This is my sidekick, Sarah," it implies that Sarah has less authority than you do. The origin of this word is unknown, but we do know that it appeared after the terms side-pal and side-partner fell out of fashion.
Vocabulary lists containing sidekick
Superhero Lexicon
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New Kid
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I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He also helped introduce the Batman villain Killer Croc, as well as Jason Todd, the young man who would succeed Dick Grayson as Batman’s sidekick Robin.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026
During the regular season, the Lakers used him in a sidekick role.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026
And in Belgium, a rescue cat named Maximus has shot to social media stardom as the bewhiskered sidekick and PR weapon of Prime Minister Bart De Wever.
From Barron's • Feb. 15, 2026
Mr. Hayes, who rose to fame as the flamboyant sidekick Jack in “Will & Grace,” here gives his finest stage performance to date.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026
He runs off toward the television, with his trusty twin sidekick behind him.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
