BEAT | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

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Meaning of beat in English beatverb uk /biːt/ us /biːt/ beat | beaten or US also beat

beat verb (DEFEAT)

Add to word list Add to word list B1 [ T ] to defeat or do better than: beat someone at something Simon always beats me at tennis. The Miami Heat beat the Pacers by five points, 95-90. Holland beat Belgium (by) 3–1. Our team was comfortably/easily/soundly beaten in the first round of the competition. The Nationalists were narrowly beaten in the election. He beat me fair and square (= without cheating). They were beaten hands down (= completely) by their opponents.beat a record She has beaten her own record of three minutes ten seconds. Synonyms annihilate informal conquer crush (BEAT) defeat hammer (DAMAGE/DEFEAT) informal thrash (DEFEAT) informal trounce to beat someone in a race, competition, etc.
  • beatUnited beat City 3 - 2.
  • defeatCan Ireland defeat New Zealand in this high-stakes match?
  • conquerThe Greeks had fought and conquered the army of Mardonius.
  • vanquishThe superhero always vanquishes his foes and saves the world.
  • annihilateModern superpowers succeed not by annihilating their enemies but by buying them off.
  • hammerThe Colts got hammered by the Patriots.
See more results » B2 informal to be better or more enjoyable than another activity or experience: beat the hell out of slang Taking the bus beats the hell out of (= is much better than) walking all the way there.you can't beat You can't beat (= there is nothing more enjoyable than) a cold beer on a hot afternoon. [ + -ing verb ] Taking the bus sure beats walking. [ T ] To beat something that is going to happen is to take action before the thing happens: beat the rush I always do my shopping early to beat the rush. Let's try to beat the traffic by leaving early in the morning. beat someone to it to do something before someone else does it: I was just going to clean the kitchen, but you beat me to it. See more
  • Paul beat me by three games to two.
  • With this new product, we are well situated to beat our competitors.
  • They will be a tough team to beat.
  • The Liberal Democrats may form a pact with Labour to try to beat the Conservatives in the next election.
  • She came within two seconds of beating the world record.
Winning and defeating
  • air supremacy
  • annihilate
  • annihilation
  • bank
  • be gunning for someone idiom
  • blowout
  • massacre
  • medal
  • mincemeat
  • moral victory
  • move/go/close in for the kill idiom
  • scrape
  • stomp
  • stomp on someone/something phrasal verb
  • sweep the board idiom
  • take someone down phrasal verb
  • take something apart phrasal verb
  • thrash
  • trouser
  • vanquish
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Surpassing in quality or number Acting and acts

beat verb (HIT)

B2 [ I or T, usually + adv/prep ] to hit repeatedly: beat down The rain was beating down incessantly on the tin roof.be beaten to death She was beaten to death. They saw him beating his dog with a stick. The child had been brutally/savagely beaten. [ + obj + adj ] He was beaten senseless. Beat the drum. to hit someone or something
  • hitShe was expelled for hitting another pupil.
  • whackShe whacked the water with her paddle.
  • bashThe swinging door bashed him in the face.
  • strikeShe had been struck on the head with a golf ball.
  • beatHe was cruel to his dog and beat it with a stick.
  • punchHe punched me in the stomach.
See more results » beat a path through something to form a path in an area where long grass or bushes grow closely together, by hitting the plants with your hands or an object, or by stepping on them: We beat a path through the undergrowth. See more
  • The rain beat against her face as she struggled through the wind.
  • They've threatened to beat him to a jelly if he doesn't repay the money.
  • People were shocked by the advertisement which depicted a woman beating her husband.
  • His bruises lent credence to his statement that he had been beaten.
  • I felt sick when I heard about the prisoners being beaten.
Hitting and beating
  • at-risk
  • bang away phrasal verb
  • bang someone up phrasal verb
  • basher
  • bashing
  • hammer
  • head butt
  • hell
  • jab someone in something
  • jab something at someone
  • jab something into something
  • jelly
  • punch
  • stroke
  • swat
  • swing at someone phrasal verb
  • swing for someone phrasal verb
  • tan someone's hide idiom
  • tapping
  • tar
See more results »

beat verb (MIX)

C1 to mix something repeatedly using a utensil such as a spoon or whisk: To make an omelette you first beat the eggs. Mixing and mixtures
  • amalgam
  • be neither one thing nor the other idiom
  • blend
  • blend in/blend into something phrasal verb
  • blender
  • blitz
  • churn
  • crossed
  • decoction
  • emulsion
  • guaraná
  • homogeneous mixture
  • interspersed
  • jumble
  • mashup
  • meld
  • methylate
  • unblended
  • wed
  • witches' brew
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Cookery terms

beat verb (MOVEMENT)

B1 [ I or T ] to (cause to) make a regular movement or sound: The doctor could feel no pulse beating. Her heart started to beat faster. The hummingbird beats its wings at great speed. beat time to make a regular sound or movement to music: He beat time on the table to mark the rhythm of the poem. See more
  • They danced to the beat of the drums.
  • The beat of the music was strangely hypnotic.
  • The car radio was pumping out music with a heavy beat.
  • Every time he looks at me my heart skips a beat.
  • Waltzes have three beats in/to the bar.
Shaking, swinging and vibrating
  • brandish
  • earth-shaking
  • flappy
  • flourish
  • fluff
  • fluff something up phrasal verb
  • reverberation
  • reverberative
  • ripple
  • rock-a-bye
  • shake out phrasal verb
  • shakily
  • shiver
  • sway
  • thrash
  • trembly
  • tremulously
  • vibrate
  • vibration
  • vibratory
See more results »

Idioms

beat someone at their own game beat someone's brains out beat your breast/chest beat around the bush beat the clock beat a dead horse beat someone hollow beat it! beat a path to someone's door beat a retreat beat the rap if you can't beat 'em, join 'em it beats me take some beating the beating heart of something that beats everything

Phrasal verbs

beat someone/something back beat down beat someone down beat someone off beat off beat something out beat someone out beat out something beat something out of someone beat someone up beat yourself up beat up on someone beatadjective [ after verb ]   informal uk /biːt/ us /biːt/ extremely tired: dead beat You've been working too hard—you look dead beat. I'm beat - I'm going to bed. Synonym bushed
  • After a weekend of partying, I'm absolutely beat.
  • She had been through a hell of a lot and she looked beat.
Tired and making tired
  • all in
  • anti-fatigue
  • at your worst idiom
  • be dead on your feet idiom
  • be fit/ready to drop idiom
  • finish
  • finish something off phrasal verb
  • fit to drop idiom
  • fragile
  • gassed
  • shattered
  • shell-shocked
  • sleep deprivation
  • sleep-deprived
  • sleepily
  • sleepiness
  • strung out
  • wrecked
  • yawningly
  • zonked
See more results » beatnoun uk /biːt/ us /biːt/

beat noun (MOVEMENT)

B2 [ C or U ] a regular movement or sound, especially that made by your heart: skip a beat My heart skipped a beat (= I felt very excited) when she said, "Yes, I'll marry you." I put my head on his chest but I could feel no heartbeat.
  • They danced to the beat of the drums.
  • The beat of the music was strangely hypnotic.
  • The car radio was pumping out music with a heavy beat.
  • Every time he looks at me my heart skips a beat.
  • Waltzes have three beats in/to the bar.
The circulatory system & blood
  • ABO
  • ABO blood group
  • ABO typing
  • accessory pathway
  • adventitia
  • auricle
  • bicuspid valve
  • corpuscle
  • give blood
  • glomus
  • granulocyte
  • haem
  • haematogenous
  • phagocyte
  • portal system
  • precava
  • pulmonary artery
  • pulmonary vein
  • pulmonic
  • pulse
See more results »

beat noun (MUSIC)

B2 [ C or U ] in music, a regular emphasis, or a place in the music where such an emphasis is expected: on the beat Make sure you play on the beat.to the beat He tapped his foot to the beat (= rhythm) of the music. The guitar comes in on the third beat. Beats or lengths of musical notes
  • backbeat
  • bar
  • bar line
  • breakbeat
  • common time
  • half note
  • hemidemisemiquaver
  • major seventh
  • major sixth
  • major third
  • metre
  • ninth
  • perfect fifth
  • perfect fourth
  • phrase
  • quadruple
  • quarter note
  • quaver
  • quintuple
  • semibreve
See more results »

beat noun (AREA)

[ C usually singular ] an area for which someone, such as a police officer, has responsibility as part of their job: Bob has worked as an officer on this particular beat for 20 years. be on the beat (also walk the beat) A police officer who is on the beat or walking the beat is on duty, walking around rather than driving in a police car: Most people would like to see more bobbies on the beat in their area. See more The police generally
  • anti-police
  • anti-riot
  • baton
  • baton charge
  • billy club
  • booze bus
  • dragnet
  • fuzz
  • Interpol
  • kettle
  • kettling
  • lathi
  • lathi-charge
  • patrol wagon
  • precinct
  • riot squad
  • Royal Canadian Mounted Police
  • Scotland Yard
  • secret police
  • self-policing
See more results »

beat noun (MOMENT)

[ C ] mainly US a moment or short pause, for example in a speech or story: There's a beat, as if to wait for audience laughter, and then he walks off stage. She lets the comment hang for a beat before continuing. take a beat to pause for a short time, or to happen after a short pause: She takes a beat to process what she is hearing. Without even taking a beat he says, "Sure, you can do that." It took a beat for him to react. It took a beat before the audience started to laugh. [ C ] mainly US an important moment, event, or subject in a story, film, etc.: The moment is gruesome, but it’s also an important beat in the story. The director effortlessly handles the plot twists and emotional beats.
  • I say things that the audience is thinking, but just a beat before they say it.
  • He waits for a beat and then says, "Who are you again?"
  • This is going to hurt, but just for a beat.
  • It's all about making sense of the story from beat to beat, figuring out if a scene adds up.
  • The sequences are told sideways; the story beats aren’t as obvious as they usually are, but they do connect up with the larger story.
  • This week in Washington, for many there is only one story, only one beat: the allegations against the president.
Pauses & interludes
  • abeyance
  • adjournment
  • asynchronously
  • break time
  • break-journey
  • comfort stop
  • hiatus
  • hold something in abeyance
  • in abeyance
  • interlude
  • intermission
  • interval
  • lull
  • moratorium
  • non-continuous
  • one-stop
  • pause
  • plateau
  • stoppage
  • suspension
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Cinema & theatre: parts of plays, shows & films

Idiom

not miss/skip a beat (Definition of beat from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

beat | American Dictionary

beatverb us /bit/

beat verb (DEFEAT)

Add to word list Add to word list [ T ] past tense beat | past participle beaten us/ˈbi·tən/ beat to defeat a competitor, or to do or be better than someone or something: In football, the Giants beat the 49ers, 17-3. Most people think that the governor will beat his opponent. The room wasn’t much, but it beat driving to a hotel 20 miles away. [ T ] past tense beat | past participle beaten us/ˈbi·tən/ beat To beat something that is going to happen is to take action that will prevent it from having an effect on you: I leave work early to beat the traffic.

beat verb (HIT)

[ I/T ] past tense beat | past participle beaten us/ˈbit·ən/ beat to hit repeatedly: [ T ] He looked as if he’d been beaten. [ I ] The children were beating on the table.

beat verb (MIX)

[ T ] past tense beat | past participle beaten us/ˈbit·ən/ beat to mix food with a fast circular motion: [ M ] Beat in the egg yolks.

beat verb (RHYTHM)

[ I/T ] past tense beat | past participle beaten us/ˈbit·ən/ beat to make a rhythmic sound or movement, or to hit something in rhythm to make such a sound: [ I ] I was so nervous I could feel my heart beating. [ T ] He steadily beat the drum. [ I ] Without calcium, your heart could not beat correctly.

Idioms

beat around the bush beat it (it) beats me

Phrasal verbs

beat someone to something beat down beat out someone beat up someone beat up on someone beatnoun [ C usually sing ] us /bit/

beat noun [C usually sing] (AREA)

an area for which someone, esp. a police officer, has responsibility as part of the job: People are comforted to see cops on the beat.

beat noun [C usually sing] (RHYTHM)

music the rhythmic sound in music that repeats regularly: We clapped in time to the beat. beatadjective   infml us /bit/

beat adjective (TIRED)

extremely tired: I’m beat – I’m going to bed. (Definition of beat from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

beat | Business English

beatverb [ T ] uk /biːt/ us beat | beaten | US also beat Add to word list Add to word list to do better than someone or something: Yesterday's close beat the record set Feb. 1. With their lowest price guarantee, they will beat the price of a competitor's product by 10%.beat estimates/expectations/forecasts Declines in shares of the world's biggest chip maker halted when the company beat expectations for profits. They are selling the software packages at prices that are hard to beat. beat the competition to be more successful than other people or companies that you are competing against: The way to beat the competition is to recruit and retain talented staff. beat a path to sb's door to be eager to buy or get something from someone: By making furniture distinguished in design and workmanship, it has persuaded buyers to beat a path to its door. beat a (hasty) retreat to decide not to continue with something that has become too difficult or not worth doing: Most of the market beat a hasty retreat, investors being unimpressed by a volatile performance on Wall Street.beat a retreat from sth The prime minister's cabinet continues to beat a retreat from many economic reforms. beat sb at their own game informal to use the methods by which someone has tried to defeat you to your own advantage: By buying two competitors who tried to beat him at his own game, he created the three networks he now owns. beat sb to it to achieve something before someone else does it: We got very close to buying the franchise last year before another company beat us to it. beat the odds to succeed despite having a disadvantage: Many mergers fail to deliver value to shareholders, but the bank's new president thinks it will be able to beat the odds. if you can't beat 'em, join 'em informal (also if you can't beat them, join them) said when you accept that you cannot be as successful as someone else without doing what they do: If you can't beat them, join them. Beginning in February the domestic distributor will become the exclusive U.S. importer for the popular foreign brands. take some beating to do something so well that it is difficult for anyone else to do better: The automaker has delivered an impressive hatchback car that will take some beating.

Phrasal verbs

beat sb/sth back beat sb/sth down beat off sb/sth beat out sb/sth (Definition of beat from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press) What is the pronunciation of beat?

Translations of beat

in Chinese (Traditional) 打敗, 打敗，戰勝, （非正式）比…好… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 打败, 打败，战胜, （非正式）比…好… See more in Spanish ganar, ser mejor que, pegar… See more in Portuguese vencer, derrotar, ser melhor do que… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian पराभूत करणे किंवा त्यापेक्षा चांगले करणे, इतर क्रिया किंवा अनुभवापेक्षा चांगले किंवा अधिक आनंददायक असणे, मारणे… See more （対戦相手）を打ち破る, （相手）に勝つ, （心臓が）鼓動する… See more yenmek, mağlup etmek, dövmek… See more battre, frapper, échapper à qqn ou qqch… See more guanyar, bategar, copejar… See more slaan, verslaan, kloppen… See more தோற்கடிக்க அல்லது ஒன்றை விட சிறப்பாக செய்ய, மற்றொரு செயல்பாடு அல்லது அனுபவத்தை விட சிறந்த அல்லது சுவாரஸ்யமாக இருக்க வேண்டும், மீண்டும் மீண்டும் அடித்தல்… See more हराना, पराजित करना, बेहतर करना… See more હરાવવું, હારી જવું, ચડિયાતું… See more slå, piske, banke… See more slå, piska, hamra… See more pukul, kalahkan, degup… See more schlagen, Takt angeben/schlagen, der (Takt-)Schlag… See more slå, vinne over, denge… See more شکست دینا, ہرانا, مات دینا… See more бити, вдаряти, перемагати… See more ఓడించడం, మరొక కార్యాచరణ లేక అనుభవం కంటే మెరుగ్గా లేక మరింత ఆనందదాయకంగా ఉండటం, పదేపదే బాదు… See more পরাজয়, অন্য কার্যকলাপ বা অভিজ্ঞতা থেকে ভাল, বারবার আঘাত করা… See more tlouci, porazit, šlehat… See more memukul, mengalahkan, mengocok… See more ตีซ้ำ ๆ, เอาชนะ, ตีหรือคนให้เข้ากัน… See more đập, nện, đánh bại ai… See more pokonać, bić, pobić… See more 이기다, 맥박이 뛰다, (사람이나 동물을 계속) 치다… See more battere, colpire, percuotere… See more Need a translator?

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beast beast of burden idiom beastie beastly beat beat a dead horse idiom beat a path through something phrase beat a path to someone's door idiom beat a retreat idiom {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of beat

  • beat up
  • beat-up
  • beat the rush
  • beat someone at something
  • beat the system
  • beat someone to death
  • the Beat Generation
See all meanings
  • beat down phrasal verb
  • beat out someone phrasal verb
  • beat someone to something phrasal verb
  • beat up on someone phrasal verb
  • beat up someone phrasal verb
  • beat off phrasal verb
  • beat off sb/sth phrasal verb
See all phrasal verb meanings
  • beat around the bush idiom
  • beat it idiom
  • (it) beats me idiom
  • beat it! idiom
  • beat time phrase
  • beat someone to it phrase
  • bang/beat the drum idiom
See all idioms and phrases

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  • English   
    • Verb 
      • beat (DEFEAT)
      • beat someone to it
      • beat (HIT)
      • beat a path through something
      • beat (MIX)
      • beat (MOVEMENT)
      • beat time
    Adjective
    • Noun 
      • beat (MOVEMENT)
      • beat (MUSIC)
      • beat (AREA)
      • be on the beat
      • beat (MOMENT)
      • take a beat
  • American   
    • Verb 
      • beat (DEFEAT)
      • beat (HIT)
      • beat (MIX)
      • beat (RHYTHM)
    • Noun 
      • beat (AREA)
      • beat (RHYTHM)
    • Adjective 
      • beat (TIRED)
  • Business   
    • Verb 
      • beat
      • beat the competition
      • beat a path to sb's door
      • beat a (hasty) retreat
      • beat sb at their own game
      • beat sb to it
      • beat the odds
      • if you can't beat 'em, join 'em
      • take some beating
  • Translations
  • Grammar
  • All translations
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Tag » What Does On The Beat Mean