downbeat
the downward stroke of a conductor's arm or baton indicating the first or accented beat of a measure.
the first beat of a measure.
gloomy or depressing; pessimistic: Hollywood movies seldom have downbeat endings.
Origin of downbeat
1Words Nearby downbeat
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use downbeat in a sentence
In jazz, musicians are trained to swing eighth notes, or extend the duration of their downbeats — every other eighth note — and shorten the beats in between to create a galloping rhythm.
At a Delhi gathering after his arrest, downbeat editors spoke on the chilling effect the attacks on the media were having on newsrooms.
‘They Can Target Anybody’: India’s War on Free Press Is in High Gear | Kavitha Iyer | August 1, 2022 | TimeSome may see the decidedly not-tragic ending of The Man Who Sold His Skin as a copout, a betrayal of the story’s more downbeat undertones.
In the Oscar-Nominated The Man Who Sold His Skin, a Refugee Stakes His Future on a Tattoo | Stephanie Zacharek | April 9, 2021 | TimeMark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate, welcomed the news, especially after months of downbeat economic trends.
Jobless claims fall to lowest level of the pandemic | Hannah Denham | March 25, 2021 | Washington PostThe response from Simple customers has been predictably downbeat.
BBVA says that it is shutting down banking app Simple, will transfer users to BBVA USA | Ingrid Lunden | January 7, 2021 | TechCrunch
Why did the Russian Ministry of Culture help to finance such a downbeat portrait of contemporary Russia?
Inside ‘Leviathan’: Russian Filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Award-Winning Anti-Putin Cannes Film | Richard Porton | May 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMost affecting is his romance with a cute, downbeat girl inmate named Andrea.
Full of lively, comic storytelling and resonant in theme—youth ends; how sad—it casts a downbeat and very of-the-moment mood.
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, downbeat, the New Yorker, and more.
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, the New York Times, Vogue, downbeat, the New Yorker, and more.
British Dictionary definitions for downbeat
/ (ˈdaʊnˌbiːt) /
music the first beat of a bar or the downward gesture of a conductor's baton indicating this: Compare upbeat
informal depressed; gloomy
informal relaxed; unemphatic
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse