beady
Americanadjective
-
beadlike; small, globular, and glittering.
beady eyes.
-
covered with or full of beads.
adjective
-
small, round, and glittering: used esp of eyes
-
resembling or covered with beads
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of beady
Explanation
Something that's beady is small and shiny, resembling a round bead. Your dog might stare at you with beady eyes whenever you eat peanut butter. Beady is almost always used to describe someone's eyes, especially if they're small, dark, and gleaming with some particular intent. A greedy person might appear to have beady eyes, and so might an intent listener in a college class. The word can also mean "decorated with beads," but this is much less common. At the heart of beady is bead, from bede, "prayer bead," by way of the Old English gebed, or "prayer."
Vocabulary lists containing beady
Where the Red Fern Grows
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The Skin I'm In
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Hello, Universe
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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:
The mom of two then climbed upstairs herself to keep a beady eye on both children as they stood on the balcony and surveyed the grounds around them.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026
"I think they were keeping a particularly beady eye on me when I was holding the mace, suspicious I might do the same."
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
He was short and balding, with beady brown eyes, a friendly face and gracious manner.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2025
McConnell chafed at this and his beady little eyes bulged with contempt as he had to choke down the filth Trump spewed.
From Salon ● Feb. 29, 2024
Jude gets up and walks over to Mom, looking down on her like she’s a beady little beetle.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
His great face was yellow and seemed in that moment of a preternatural flabbiness; his beady eyes were beadier than ever.
From Captain Blood by Sabatini, Rafael
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.
