Meaning of beat in English

beat

verb

/biːt/ us

/biːt/

beat | beaten or US also beat

beat verb (DEFEAT)

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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  (DEFEAT) informal
thrash  (DEFEAT) informal
trounce

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

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.

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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.

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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.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Winning and defeating

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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.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

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.

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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.

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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.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Hitting and beating

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beat verb (MIX)

to mix something repeatedly using a utensil such as a spoon or whisk:

To make an omelette you first beat the eggs.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Mixing and mixtures

amalgam
be neither one thing nor the other idiom
blend
blend in/blend into something
blender
blitz
churn
crossed
decoction
emulsion
guaraná
homogeneous mixture
meld
methylate
mingle
mosaic
mush
saturated solution
scramble
synthesis

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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.

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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.

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Shaking, swinging and vibrating

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Idioms

beat someone at their own game
beat someone hollow
beat someone's brains out
beat your breast/chest
beat a path to someone's door
beat a retreat
beat around the bush
beat a dead horse
beat it!
beat the rap

More idioms

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

More phrasal verbs

beat yourself up

beat up on someone

beat

adjective [ after verb ]

informal

/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

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After a weekend of partying, I'm absolutely beat.
She had been through a hell of a lot and she looked beat.

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Tired and making tired

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beat

noun

/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.

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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.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

The circulatory system & blood

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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.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Beats or lengths of musical notes

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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.

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The police generally

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beat noun (IN STORY)

[ 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.

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It's all about making sense of the story from beat to beat, figuring out if a scene adds up.
The series has yet to progress from its promising debut, reiterating the same plot and character beats.
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.
Sometimes, when they cut the movie together, it doesn't work. Because the beats of comedy are in the cutting.
This week in Washington, for many there is only one story, only one beat: the allegations against the president.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Cinema & theatre: parts of plays, shows & films

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Idiom

not miss/skip a beat

(Definition of beat from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

beat | American Dictionary

beat

verb

/bit/

beat verb (DEFEAT)

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[ 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

beat

noun [ C usually sing ]

/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.

beat

adjective

infml

/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

beat

verb [ T ]

/biːt/ us

beat | beaten | US also beat

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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…

in Chinese (Simplified)

打败, 打败，战胜, （非正式）比…好…

in Spanish

ganar, ser mejor que, pegar…

in Portuguese

vencer, derrotar, ser melhor do que…

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पराभूत करणे किंवा त्यापेक्षा चांगले करणे, इतर क्रिया किंवा अनुभवापेक्षा चांगले किंवा अधिक आनंददायक असणे, मारणे…

（対戦相手）を打ち破る, （相手）に勝つ, （心臓が）鼓動する…

yenmek, mağlup etmek, dövmek…

battre, frapper, échapper à qqn ou qqch…

guanyar, bategar, copejar…

slaan, verslaan, kloppen…

தோற்கடிக்க அல்லது ஒன்றை விட சிறப்பாக செய்ய, மற்றொரு செயல்பாடு அல்லது அனுபவத்தை விட சிறந்த அல்லது சுவாரஸ்யமாக இருக்க வேண்டும், மீண்டும் மீண்டும் அடித்தல்…

हराना, पराजित करना, बेहतर करना…

હરાવવું, હારી જવું, ચડિયાતું…

slå, piske, banke…

slå, piska, hamra…

pukul, kalahkan, degup…

schlagen, Takt angeben/schlagen, der (Takt-)Schlag…