beat

/biːt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

often/bɛt/

beat noun: a stroke; a blow. Also the past participle of beat.

Noun (1)

beat (plural beats)

A stroke; a blow.
- He, […]with a careless beat, / Struck out the mute creation at a heat.1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC
A pulsation or throb.
- a beat of the heart
- the beat of the pulse
A pulse on the beat level, the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit. Thus a beat is the basic time unit of a piece.
A rhythm.
- I love watching her dance to a pretty drum beat with a bouncy rhythm!
1. The rhythm signalled by a conductor or other musician to the members of a group of musicians.
The instrumental portion of a piece of hip-hop music.
The interference between two tones of almost equal frequency.
A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect.
(broadly) The route patrolled by a police officer or a guard.
- to walk the beat
- There has been a bad business during the night at 3, Lauriston Gardens, off the Brixton Road. Our man on the beat saw a light there about two in the morning, and as the house was an empty one, suspected that something was amiss.1886, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 3, in A Study in Scarlet
(broadly) The primary focus of a reporter's stories (such as police/courts, education, city government, business etc.).
- As an adult, I became a journalist whose beat is the environment. In a way, I’ve turned my youthful preoccupations into a profession.2020 April, Elizabeth Kolbert, “Why we won't avoid a climate catastrophehttps://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/04/why-we-wont-avoid-a-climate-catastrophe-feature/”, in National Geographic
Synonyms:

newsbeat
(dated) An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.
- It's a beat on the whole country.1898, unknown author, Scribner's Magazine, volume 24
(colloquial, dated) That which beats, or surpasses, another or others.
- the beat of him
(Southern US, dated, obsolete) A precinct.

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(dated) A place of habitual or frequent resort.
1. (Australia, dated) An area frequented by gay men in search of sexual activity. See gay beat.
(archaic) A low cheat or swindler.
- a dead beat
- “If I get away I sha’n’t be here,” I says, “to prove these rapscallions ain’t your uncles, and I couldn’t do it if I was here. I could swear they was beats and bummers, that’s all, though that’s worth something.1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXVIII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC
The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.
- Bears coming out of holes in the rocks at the last moment, when the beat is close to them.1911, Hedley Peek, Frederick George Aflalo, Encyclopaedia of Sport
A smart tap on the adversary's blade.
(slang) A makeup look; compare beat one's face.
- She made sure to give fans all the details about her beat in the caption.2018, Leah Prinzivalli, “Kylie Jenner Shared a Sneak Peek of Her New Kylie Cosmetics Blush on Instagram”, in Allure

Verb (1)

beat (third-person singular simple present beats, present participle beating, simple past beat or (nonstandard) beated, past participle beaten or (colloquial) beat or (nonstandard) beated)

(transitive) To hit; to strike.
- As soon as she heard that her father had died, she went into a rage and beat the wall with her fists until her knuckles bled.
- Thomas Limbrick, who was only nine years of age, said he lived with his mother when Deborah was beat: that his mother throwed her down all along with her hands; and then against a wall […]1825?, “Hannah Limbrick, Executed for Murder”, in The Newgate Calendar: comprising interesting memoirs of the most notorious characters, page 231
Synonyms:

knock, pound, strike, hammer, whack, abuse, aggress, assail, assault, attack
(transitive) To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.
- He danced hypnotically while she beat the atabaque.
(intransitive) To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.
- […] the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door […]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 19:22
- The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jonah 4:8
(intransitive) To move with pulsation or throbbing.
- A thousand hearts beat happily.1812–18, George Gordon Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, canto 3, verse 21
- O heart, how fares it with thee now,
  ⁠That thou should’st fail from thy desire,
  ⁠Who scarcely darest to inquire,
  ‘What is it makes me beat so low?’1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto IV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC
(transitive) To win against; to defeat or overcome; to do or be better than (someone); to excel in a particular, competitive event.
- Jan had little trouble beating John in tennis. He lost five games in a row.
- No matter how quickly Joe finished his test, Roger always beat him.
(intransitive) To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
(transitive) To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.
- The part of the wood to be beaten for deer sloped all the way from the roadside to the loch.1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 81
To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.
- Beat the eggs and whip the cream.
(UK, transitive) To persuade the seller to reduce a price.
- He wanted $50 for it, but I managed to beat him down to $35.
Synonyms:

negotiate
(transitive) To indicate by beating or drumming.
- to beat a retreat; to beat to quarters
To tread, as a path.
- While I this unexampled task essay, / Pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way, / Celestial Dove! divine assistance bring, / Sustain me on thy strong-extended wing,1712, Sir Richard Blackmore, Creation: A Philosophical Poem, book 1
To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.
- I know not why any one should waste his time, and beat his head about the Latin grammar, who does not intend to be a critick, or make speeches, and write dispatches in it.1693, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

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To be in agitation or doubt.
- to still my beating mind1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
To make a sound when struck.
- The drums beat.
(intransitive) To make a succession of strokes on a drum.
- The drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.
To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and lesser intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; said of instruments, tones, or vibrations not perfectly in unison.
(transitive) To arrive at a place before someone.
- He beat me there.
- The place is empty; we beat the crowd of people who come at lunch.
(Multicultural-London-English, intransitive, slang, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse.
- Bruv, she came in just as we started to beat.
- Millie B gets ten shags a week. New day, different guy, that's just peek. You can't name a guy that you haven't tried to beat. You can't name a guy that you haven't tried to beat.2017-02-08, “Big (Millie B reply)”performed by Sophie Aspin
Synonyms:

do it, get it on, have sex, shag, approach, cohabit, common, company, copulate, couple
(slang, transitive) To rob; to cheat or scam.
- He beat me out of 12 bucks last night.
- I already beat him, but he hasn't realized it yet.

Verb (2)

beat

simple past tense of beat

Adjective (1)

beat (comparative more beat, superlative most beat)

(US, slang) Exhausted.
- After the long day, she was feeling completely beat.
- I stayed in San Francisco a week and had the beatest time of my life. Marylou and I walked around for miles, looking for food-money.1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, chapter 10, in On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, part 2
(slang) Dilapidated, beat up.
- Dude, you drive a beat car like that and you ain’t gonna get no honeys.
(African-American Vernacular and gay slang) Having impressively attractive makeup.
- Her face was beat for the gods!
(slang) Boring.
(slang) Ugly.

Noun (2)

beat (plural beats)

A beatnik.
- The beats were pioneers with no destination, changing the world one impulse at a time.2008 March, David Wills, Beatdom, number 3

Adjective (2)

beat (comparative more beat, superlative most beat)

Relating to the Beat Generation.
- beat poetry

Also used as

beat is also the past participle of beat.

beat meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

beat in Hindi

to hit, to knock, to pound, to strike: पीटना pīṭnā, मारना mārnā
to win against: जीतना jītnā

beat in Urdu

to hit, to knock, to pound, to strike: پیٹنا pīṭnā, مارنا mārnā
to win against: جیتنا jītnā

beat in Bengali

rhythm: তাল tal
pulse on the beat level: তাল tal
to hit, to knock, to pound, to strike: পেটা peṭa, মারা mara
to strike or pound repeatedly: পেটা peṭa, মারা mara

beat in Telugu

to indicate by beating or drumming: వాయించు vāyiñcu

More languagesFewer languages

beat in Malayalam: അടിക്കുക aṭikkuka
beat in Sanskrit: वादयति vādayati
beat in Nepali: ठोक्नु ṭhoknu, जित्नु jitnu, हराउनु harāunu, टप्नु ṭapnu
beat in Tagalog: ihampas, batiin, magbati
beat in Arabic: نَبْض nabḍ, ضَرَبَ ḍaraba, دَقَّ daqqa, وَجَفَ wajafa
beat in Malay: rentak
beat in Persian: زدن zadan
beat in Thai: ตี dtii, ชนะ chá-ná
beat in Vietnamese: đánh, đập, thắng
Kashmiri: لایُن lāyun, چوب دِنؠ cōb din', ہار دِنؠ, زینُن zēnun

Examples of beat in a sentence

I just can't seem to beat the last level of this video game.
With each beat, your heart's left ventricle pumps blood into your arteries, which are all different sizes.2026, Ginny Graves, “The Most Important Health Metric You're Not Tracking”, in Men's Health, volume 41, number 2, page 19:
[…]the rise of embedding police into schools – so-called School Resource Officers (SROs), who are employed by the local police, but whose “beat” is a school.2019 January 29, Mike Masnick, “How My High School Destroyed An Immigrant Kid's Life Because He Drew The School's Mascot”, in Techdirt:
It is the equivalent of having bobbies on the beat."2025 July 23, Paul Clifton, “Air force: drones' developing railway role”, in RAIL, number 1040, page 31:
Then Xu immediately began to beat Qu, and forced her and the baby to live in a small shack.1988, Emily Honig, Gail Hershatter, “Divorce”, in Personal Voices: Chinese Women in the 1980's, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN...

All 40 example sentences with beat

Synonyms of beat

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All synonyms of beat

Forms of beat

Noun
plural	beats
alternative form	Beat
Verb
third-person singular present	beats
present participle	beating
past	beat
past participle	beaten
past (nonstandard)	beated
past participle (colloquial)	beat
past participle (nonstandard)	beated
second-person singular present (archaic)	beatest
second-person singular past (archaic)	beatest
third-person singular present (archaic)	beateth
Adjective
comparative	more beat
superlative	most beat

Past tense of beat: beat

Plural of beat: beats

Origin of beat

Inherited from Middle English beten, from Old English bēatan (“to beat, pound, strike, lash, dash, thrust, hurt, injure”), from Proto-West Germanic *bautan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to push, strike”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch boten, botten, butten (“to push, strike”), German boßen (“to thrash”), Gothic *𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍄𐌰𐌽 (*bautan, “to beat, strike”) (whence, probably, Galician and Portuguese botar (“to expel; to throw”)); also Latin fūstis (“club, cudgel, knobbed stick, staff”), *fūtō (“to strike”), Albanian bahe, hobe (“sling”), Armenian բութ (butʻ), բույթ (buytʻ, “thumb”).

From Middle English bet (simple past of beten "to beat"), from Old English bēot (simple past of bēatan "to beat"). Middle English bet would regularly yield *beet; the modern form is influenced by the present stem and the past participle beaten, perhaps by analogy with the Early Modern English paradigm eat:eat (“ate”):eaten. Pronunciations with /ɛ/ (from Middle English bette, alternative simple past of beten) are possibly analogous to read (/ɹɛd/), led, met, etc.

From beatnik, or beat generation.

Words formed from beat

Phrases with beat

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Words that rhyme with beat

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Questions about beat

What does beat mean?: Beat means a stroke; a blow.
What is beat in Hindi?: Beat in Hindi is पीटना (pīṭnā), मारना (mārnā), जीतना (jītnā). See Beat meaning in Hindi.
How do you use beat in a sentence?: I just can't seem to beat the last level of this video game.
What part of speech is beat?: Beat can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce beat?: Beat is pronounced /biːt/.
What is the plural of beat?: The plural of beat is beats.

Words near beat in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: beat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-beat.ogg.

Cite this entry: “beat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/beat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.