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sideshow

[ sahyd-shoh ]

/ ˈsaɪdˌʃoʊ /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR sideshow ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a minor show or exhibition in connection with a principal one, as at a circus.

any subordinate event or matter.

Origin of sideshow

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Words nearby sideshow

siderostat, siderotic, siderotic nodules, sidesaddle, sidesaddle flower, sideshow, sideslip, sidesman, sidespin, sidesplitter, sidesplitting

Example sentences from the Web for sideshow

But drinking seems like a sideshow in these joints, not the main event.

All the Grown-Up Hipsters Playing Kids’ Games |Daniel Genis |June 29, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The natural gas boom has become little more than a sideshow.

How the Kings of Fracking Double-Crossed Their Way to Riches |ProPublica |March 13, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The trial of Morsi, now due to begin February 1, will be just a sideshow.

Egypt’s Arab Spring Gives Way To Spring Of The Patriarch |Christopher Dickey |January 10, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
But the shutdown is something of a sideshow, provoked by impatient conservatives who wanted confrontation.

Democrats May Be Obstructionists Now, but They Have Good Reason |Jamelle Bouie |October 1, 2013 |DAILY BEAST

The more I wrote about her sideshow behavior, the more I felt seeing it in person was my destiny.

My Search for Amanda Bynes … and Why I’m Calling It Off |Kevin Fallon |May 29, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
It was all like a county fair of Iowa, only more dignified, with no touch of sideshow.

The Spell of Scotland |Keith Clark
I have wondered sometimes if it were a seat in a sideshow which she had designed for me.

A Labrador Doctor |Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
How good it felt to get into 'em and banish that sideshow tent of a skirt.

Somewhere in Red Gap |Harry Leon Wilson
But suppose we hurry along and inspect this panorama they talk so much of; it isn't going to be any sideshow.

Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 101, November 7, 1891 |Various
"Biting off live chickens' heads, in a sideshow wild-man act," Hideyoshi O'Leary supplied.

Uller Uprising |Henry Beam Piper, John D. Clark and John F. Carr

British Dictionary definitions for sideshow

sideshow

/ (ˈsaɪdˌʃəʊ) /

noun

a small show or entertainment offered in conjunction with a larger attraction, as at a circus or fair

a subordinate event or incident