beside
beside Lexical Profile
beside Game Scores & Validity
• preposition
At the side of; next to or very close to someone or something.
"She sat quietly beside her grandmother on the wooden bench."
In comparison with another person or thing.
"My own modest painting looks rather amateurish beside her masterpiece."
Wide of or not relevant to a particular subject or point.
"His personal motives are completely beside the question of whether the policy is legal."
Word Nuance & Usage
"Beside" primarily means "at the side of" or "next to," whereas "besides" means "in addition to" or "moreover." Using "beside" to mean "in addition to" is considered nonstandard or archaic in modern formal writing.
• Rhymes for beside
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'be sidan', a prepositional phrase literally meaning 'by the side of', formed from 'be' (by) and the dative singular of 'side' (side).