beat

Fetched 2026-10-27 (live).

Datamuse reports no synonyms or antonyms for this word.

Noun

A stroke; a blow.
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!
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.
An area of a person's responsibility, especially The route patrolled by a police officer or a guard.
- to walk the beat
The route patrolled by a police officer or a guard.
- to walk the beat
The primary focus of a reporter's stories (such as police/courts, education, city government, business etc.).
An act of reporting news or scientific results before a rival; a scoop.
That which beats, or surpasses, another or others.
- the beat of him
A precinct.
A place of habitual or frequent resort. An area frequented by gay men in search of sexual activity. See gay beat.
An area frequented by gay men in search of sexual activity. See gay beat.
A low cheat or swindler.
- a dead beat
The act of scouring, or ranging over, a tract of land to rouse or drive out game; also, those so engaged, collectively.
A smart tap on the adversary's blade.
A makeup look; compare beat one's face.

Verb

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.
To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.
- He danced hypnotically while she beat the atabaque.
To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.
To move with pulsation or throbbing.
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.
- I just can't seem to beat the last level of this video game.
To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.
To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.
- Beat the eggs and whip the cream.
To persuade the seller to reduce a price.
- He wanted $50 for it, but I managed to beat him down to $35.
To indicate by beating or drumming.
- to beat a retreat; to beat to quarters
To tread, as a path.
To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.
To be in agitation or doubt.
To make a sound when struck.
- The drums beat.
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.
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.
To have sexual intercourse.
- Bruv, she came in just as we started to beat.
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

simple past tense of beat
past participle of beat

Adjective

Exhausted.
- After the long day, she was feeling completely beat.
Dilapidated, beat up.
- Dude, you drive a beat car like that and you ain’t gonna get no honeys.
Having impressively attractive makeup.
- Her face was beat for the gods!
Boring.
Ugly.

Noun

A beatnik.

Adjective

Relating to the Beat Generation.
- beat poetry

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wiktionary) · cached copy, not a rewrite.