offbeat
Americanadjective
noun
-
offbeats
plural
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of offbeat
Explanation
Anything offbeat is quirky or unusual. An offbeat hair color like magenta will definitely stand out in a crowd of blonds, brunettes, and redheads. This informal adjective is a much more admiring way to say "weird" or "freaky." If your aunt's style isn't like anyone else's, and you love that about her, you can describe her as offbeat. If you love unusual humor and unconventional perspectives, you probably also enjoy offbeat movies and books. Since about 1938, this has been the primary meaning of the word, but earlier it meant "music that doesn't match the beat."
Vocabulary lists containing offbeat
The Last Lecture
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Look Both Ways
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Words to Describe a Movie
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Pogacar may be a dominant athlete with an offbeat, silly side—look at his Bee Gees inflected “Stayin’ Alive” social-media post from his hospital bed—he’s as vulnerable as anyone else.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
To me, the most evocative Aztec sites are the offbeat relics that now lie underground along Guatemala Street near the Templo Mayor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
An offbeat comedy about two friends trying to break into the then-emergent world of music videos, the film stars John Cusack and Tim Robbins just as their careers were starting to take off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Its brand of gently offbeat Americana is pure comfort-watching.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
He told me Mom used to bust out laughing because there was always one girl who was new to it, and went offbeat, like a washing machine with one lumpy towel.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
“I’m so sorry, so sorry,” Verlaine sings, offering a desperate apology amid a crossfire of guitars and drums — knife-edged single notes, barbed lines, implacable offbeats — that don’t promise any forgiveness.
From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2023
Danalogue uses 1980s synthesizers for plump bass tones and upward swoops; Betamax mixes drums and drum machines, constantly accenting different offbeats.
From New York Times ● Sep. 23, 2022
They had a taste for the kind of syncopation that perpetually discovers new offbeats in tracks like Negoleiros do Ritmo’s “Lemba” and Elias Dia Kimuezo’s “Chamavo.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2013
Bass lines lope and skulk, the drums sputter with offbeats, and rhythm guitar and keyboards share a flippant, cackling cross talk, like wiseguys in the back of a high school classroom.
From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2013
Cycling rhythm is pace of life Beats in peace, offbeats facing strife.
From Truth and the Myth : Couplets quips by A. R. Narayanan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
