Word.ws English Dictionary

beat down

beat down verb: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see beat, down. Also the alternative spelling of beatdown.

Verb

beat down (third-person singular simple present beats down, present participle beating down, simple past beat down, past participle beaten down)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see beat, down.
    • The transmission tower was beaten down by the storm.
  2. (transitive) To forcefully diminish the power or influence of; to quell; to squash.
    • The government tried to beat down the opposition movement.
  3. (intransitive) (of the sun) To shine brightly and radiate with intense heat.
    • We had to leave the beach because the sun was really beating down.
  4. (intransitive) (of rain) To strike with great force.
    • It was a ghastly morning, with the rain beating down in sheets.
  5. (transitive) To wear (someone) out by repeated actions that overwhelm one's patience or strength.
    • She continued to badger until his friend did what he said. Eventually, she beat him down and he gave in.
  6. (informal, transitive) To haggle with (someone) to sell at a lower price.
    • I managed to beat him down to half his original asking price.
    • We beat the price down to 50 dollars.
  7. (slang, transitive) To severely beat someone up.

Also used as

beat down is also the alternative spelling of beatdown.

Forms of beat down

Verb
third-person singular presentbeats down
present participlebeating down
pastbeat down
past participlebeaten down
Noun
pluralbeat downs

Questions about beat down

What does beat down mean?
Beat down means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see beat, down.
What part of speech is beat down?
Beat down is a verb.
What is the past tense of beat down?
The past tense of beat down is beat down.

Words near beat down in the dictionary

  1. beat back
  2. beat Banaghan
  3. beat boxing
  4. beat cop
  5. beat cops
  6. beat down
  7. beat downs
  8. beat feet
  9. beat frequency oscillator
  10. beat generation
  11. beat generations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: beat down (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-beat down.ogg.

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