Other forms: sideshows
A sideshow is a small separate attraction beside the main show. A fairground sideshow, just a sideshow, the sideshow tents.
At a fair it was the tent off to one side with something curious in it, and many of those shows exhibited disabled people, which is a history the word carries. Figuratively a sideshow is a distraction from what actually matters.
1nounsideshowA small separate attraction beside the main show.
“At the fair, we skipped the big rides and went to a sideshow with a fortune teller.”
sideshow is an attraction.
From side + show.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA