alongside

a|long|side [ ə`lɔ:ŋ,saıd ] function word **

Alongside can be used in the following ways:

as a preposition (followed by a noun):

A police car drove up alongside us.

as an adverb (without a following noun):

Peter was riding on a donkey with his father walking alongside.

1. ) close to the side of something along the side of something or close to the side of it:

The railroad track runs alongside the road.

The Russian flag was flying alongside the American Stars and Stripes.

2. ) working with someone

a ) if you work alongside someone, you work with them in the same place and for the same purpose:

Volunteers worked alongside professional construction workers in a massive reconstruction program.

Leslie Caron starred alongside Maurice Chevalier in the musical Gigi.

b ) if you play or fight alongside someone in a game or war, you play or fight in the same team or on the same side with them:

In the battle, British troops fought alongside U.S. marines.

3. ) as important as someone/something important enough to be considered as being in the same class as someone or something else that is well known:

When he dies he will take his place alongside Shakespeare and Dickens as one of the truly great writers of his time.

4. ) existing together if different systems, processes, or ideas exist alongside each other, they exist at the same time:

In Hong Kong a communist government and a capitalist economy operate alongside each other.

5. ) in comparison with someone/something used for showing that you are comparing one person or thing with another:

Our profits seem small alongside those of the big multinational companies.