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
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The drama had its world premiere at the Berlinale’s Perspectives sidebar where Premium Films, in collaboration with subsidiary MPM Premium, snapped it up.
—
Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 18 May 2026
The Golden Globes Prize for Documentary was selected from nonfiction films screening this year at the Cannes Film Festival and its sidebars, but is meant to honor not just a single film but a filmmaker’s engagement with the documentary form over time.
—Matthew Carey, Deadline, 18 May 2026
The opening moments of the closing film of the 65th edition of the Critics’ Week, the sidebar that runs alongside the main Cannes Film Festival, immediately confirm that, kicking off a cinematic journey that at times feels like a love letter to cinema history.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 18 May 2026
Last night, Jane Schoenbrun opened Cannes’s Un Certain Regard sidebar with Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, which has quickly become a consensus choice for best of the festival so far.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 14 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for sidebar
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Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 18 May 2026
The Golden Globes Prize for Documentary was selected from nonfiction films screening this year at the Cannes Film Festival and its sidebars, but is meant to honor not just a single film but a filmmaker’s engagement with the documentary form over time.
—Matthew Carey, Deadline, 18 May 2026
The opening moments of the closing film of the 65th edition of the Critics’ Week, the sidebar that runs alongside the main Cannes Film Festival, immediately confirm that, kicking off a cinematic journey that at times feels like a love letter to cinema history.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 18 May 2026
Last night, Jane Schoenbrun opened Cannes’s Un Certain Regard sidebar with Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, which has quickly become a consensus choice for best of the festival so far.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 14 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for sidebar
Cite this Entry
“Sidebar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sidebar. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLegal 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)
Dockery v. State, 659 So. 2d 219 (1994)
sidebar
adjective
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