noun🔥 Gen-Z slang

side eye

a suspicious, judgmental glance

What it means

A sideways glance that silently signals suspicion, disapproval, or judgment. Giving someone the side eye is a wordless way to express skepticism or that you're not buying what they're saying.

Words like “side eye” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.

Examples

  • I gave him the side eye when he said he'd pay me back.
  • Major side eye to whoever ate my leftovers.
  • She caught my side eye after that excuse, lol.
  • The whole table gave him side eye for that take.

Where it comes from

Rooted in AAVE and Black expressive culture, it spread mainstream through reaction GIFs and emojis in the 2010s and stayed a core social-media staple.

Related slang

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