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• beacon
  beacon

  noun

  a guiding or warning signal, as a light or fire, especially one in an elevated position.
• Beacon
  Beacon

  noun

  a city in SE New York.

beacon

¹ American  

[bee-kuhn] / ˈbi kən /

noun

• beacons
  plural

1. a guiding or warning signal, as a light or fire, especially one in an elevated position.

   Synonyms:

   balefire, pharos, buoy, beam

2. a tower or hill used for such purposes.

3. a lighthouse, signal buoy, etc., on a shore or at a dangerous area at sea to warn and guide vessels.

4. Navigation.

   1. radio beacon.

   2. a radar device at a fixed location that, upon receiving a radar pulse, transmits a reply pulse that enables the original sender to determine their position relative to the fixed location.

5. a person, act, or thing that warns or guides.

6. a person or thing that illuminates or inspires.

   The Bible has been our beacon during this trouble.

7. Digital Technology.

   1. web beacon.

   2. a low-energy radio transmitter at a specific location within a store, museum, office space, etc., which identifies nearby mobile devices in order to send them location-specific messages or collect location-specific data.

      There must be a beacon in the luggage aisle because I just got a coupon for this suitcase on my phone.

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verb (used with object)

1. to serve as a beacon to; warn or guide.

2. to furnish or mark with beacons.

   a ship assigned to beacon the shoals.

verb (used without object)

1. to serve or shine as a beacon.

   A steady light beaconed from the shore.

Beacon ² American  

[bee-kuhn] / ˈbi kən /

noun

1. a city in SE New York.

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beacon British  

/ ˈbiːkən /

noun

1. a signal fire or light on a hill, tower, etc, esp one used formerly as a warning of invasion

2. a hill on which such fires were lit

3. a lighthouse, signalling buoy, etc, used to warn or guide ships in dangerous waters

4. short for radio beacon

5. a radio or other signal marking a flight course in air navigation

6. short for Belisha beacon

7. a person or thing that serves as a guide, inspiration, or warning

8. a stone set by a surveyor to mark a corner or line of a site boundary, etc

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verb

1. to guide or warn

2. (intr) to shine

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• beaconless
  adjective
• unbeaconed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• beacons
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of beacon

First recorded before 950; Middle English beken, Old English bēacen “sign, signal”; cognate with Old Frisian bāken, Old Saxon bōkan, Old High German bouhhan

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Explanation

If your nose is shining like a beacon, I hope you are a reindeer employed by a jolly fat man from the North Pole. Beacon comes from an Old English word meaning “sign,” and that's what actual beacons are for lost ships: signs of having made it to land. Beacons are often some kind of light, like the bonfires that the ancient Greeks lit on hillsides to communicate that an army had come home from overseas. You'll also see beacon used figuratively, especially in the phrase “beacon of hope.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beacon Beacon beacons

“People look to New York City as a beacon of hope,” said Angelica Castaneda, who moved her family from Florida to New York because its state laws had more protections for transgender people.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

“Japan feels a sense of responsibility to safeguard the ideals of the United Nations as our beacon of hope,” Takaichi said on Tuesday.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

“The UC system has long been the shining beacon of higher education throughout the world,” the senators wrote.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

In this new installment, Rainier represents a beacon of light for Gemma, a role that taught her a lot, Shaye says.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

It seemed like a beacon of warmth inviting weary travelers in from the storm.

From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya

A representative for Flatley said that O'Brien died peacefully at the Beacon Hospital in Dublin after an illness, Irish national broadcaster RTÉ reports.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

The Washington Free Beacon first reported on the event.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026

Trump’s post won’t have an effect on the Fed, according to Stephen Myrow, managing partner at Beacon Policy Advisors.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

CBS also boosted another El-Sayed tweet that was first revealed by the Washington Free Beacon, a right-wing outlet claiming to cover “the enemies of freedom.”

From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026

The beacon-mast upon Beacon Hill had been removed, and replaced instead with a wooden turret; there was another fort stood opposite Carver Street, and a battery of guns atop Fox Hill.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

Call them curmudgeonly roadblocks to progress, or the last beacons of sanity on the road.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

"It tends to be in the narrowest area of the channel between Deganwy and the beacons."

From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026

Minute-by-minute location tracking is based on GPS data, pings to nearby cellphone towers, Bluetooth beacons and Wi-Fi connections.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026

For many years, astronomers have relied on distant supernovae as cosmic beacons to study the universe and test the laws of physics.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 11, 2026

A lightship with twin beacons glides past as America recedes; ahead wait the great glittering prairies of the Atlantic.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

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