- present participle of beat.
noun
-
a whipping or thrashing, as in punishment
-
a defeat or setback
-
to be difficult to improve upon
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of beating
First recorded in 1200–50; from Middle English betynge; see beat, -ing 1
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:
Yet beating the market was still difficult: The percentage of mutual funds lagging the S&P 500 was virtually no different in the first half of this year than the past 25 years’ average.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
It was increased by one each year until 2011 when City finally ended their trophy drought by beating Stoke City in the FA Cup final.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Last month, he became the youngest player to feature in the Uefa Youth League for Liverpool, beating a record previously held by Joshua Abe, Ngumoha and Alexander-Arnold.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
San Francisco Bay Area residents, living in the beating heart of the artificial intelligence boom, are just as conflicted about the technology as the rest of the country.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
It was all she could hear, her heart and her breathing, and for a wild instant she thought she might be able to match it, like her heart, too, might start beating.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
It would be unfair not to credit Benn's in-ring evolution, going from a raw novice who used to take beatings in sparring to becoming one of British boxing's most recognisable fighters.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Later it took further beatings as they worked out how the 8,000-pound horse could be dragged over dunes and log rollers by actors with ropes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
“People don’t have the bandwidth to respond with the kind of outrage that they would when you saw the beatings at Pan Pacific Park,” said Abdullah, referring to the LAPD’s response to protests in 2020.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2025
As one British study titled "Banter, bollockings and beatings" made clear, an often macho culture can prevail, including bizarre induction rituals.
From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2024
Not from Gebu, not from beatings and hunger, not from Ibni and his hateful wineskins.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
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.
