Beside means next to or at the side of something. When you sit beside your friend at lunch, you're right next to them. When a book sits beside the lamp on your desk, it's positioned at the lamp's side.

The word describes physical closeness without touching: a tree growing beside a river, a dog walking beside its owner, or a teacher standing beside the whiteboard. It suggests a parallel relationship, like two things existing in the same space at the same time.

Be careful not to confuse beside with besides. While beside means “next to,” besides means “in addition to” or “except for.” You might sit beside your sister at dinner, but besides your sister, your brother and parents are there too.

People sometimes use the phrase beside the point to mean something is irrelevant. If you're debating whether to go to the movies and your friend starts talking about what they ate for breakfast, you might say “That's beside the point” because breakfast has nothing to do with your movie plans.

There's also the expression beside yourself, which means so overwhelmed by emotion that you're acting unlike your normal self: beside yourself with joy after winning a competition, or beside yourself with worry when your dog goes missing.