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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

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

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

For generations, the 103-year-old Catholic parish has been a beacon of solace and resistance for residents angry about the latest indignity to befall the historic heart of Latino Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

Shelly Easton, from the trust, said: "We need to take decisive action and show that there is hope for a nature-positive future for wildlife, farming and people. Ebdon Farm is that beacon of hope."

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

It acted like a molecular beacon, allowing scientists to detect and isolate BiP more easily during experiments.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026

Two and a half centuries later, America is still a beacon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

He is like the winning football coach in some down-on-its-luck Ohio or Texas town—a beacon, a sign that grand achievement is possible, albeit unlikely.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

Father and son witnessed Europe's last total solar eclipse together in 1999 while stood atop St Agnes Beacon in Cornwall.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

For moon watchers in Gloucestershire, Cleeve Hill, Painswick Beacon and May Hill are high ground locations offering wide horizons and clear vantage points.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

The U.S. is unlikely to reduce these much unless it gains ground on thornier issues, especially with Canada on lumber or dairy, says Owen Tedford, an analyst at Beacon Policy Advisors.

From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026

In early June, hundreds of fans dressed to the nines were in attendance at a rock star’s sold-out show at New York’s Beacon Theatre.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2026

The host was bivouacked in the pine-woods that clustered about Eilenach Beacon, a tall hill standing up from the long ridges of the Drúadan Forest that lay beside the great road in East Anórien.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

If the truck and the Walkman were metaphorical beacons, a modest gold, rope necklace and Jeff Kent’s mustache were concealed anchors even when in plain sight.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 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

At a time when rich Western nations see mass immigration as the font of societal ills, Dubai and other Gulf cities stand as exceptional beacons for foreign talent.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 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

Related Words

• flare
• lantern
• radar