beatnik
Americannoun
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(sometimes initial capital letter) a member of the Beat Generation.
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a person who rejects or avoids conventional behavior, dress, etc.
noun
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a member of the Beat Generation (sense 1)
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informal any person with long hair and shabby clothes
Etymology
Origin of beatnik
1955–60, beat (adj.) (as in Beat Generation ) + -nik
Compare meaning
How does beatnik compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
In the 1950s and early 1960s, a young person who wore a black turtleneck and a beret while playing the bongos would probably be called a beatnik. Beatniks were a youthful subculture that was influenced by jazz music and Beat poets and writers, like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. This unconventional group rejected the status quo of "normal" society, preferring to express themselves artistically. A newspaper columnist coined the term beatnik in 1958, influenced by the Sputnik satellite that had been launched the year before.
Vocabulary lists containing beatnik
American History - Middle School
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American History - High School
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Chapter 19, Sections 1–4 and Chapter 20, Sections 1–3
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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.
A beatnik radio host caught the Mets bug and praised baseball as a “kind of amalgam of all the human frustrations.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
Finally, there is Georgia McCann, a self-styled Gen Z beatnik and events planner whose special talents include throwing parties for Anna Delvey and not washing her hands after she pees.
From Salon • Aug. 2, 2025
How could this crazy beatnik character be Disney?
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 17, 2024
He stars as the busboy at a beatnik bar who uses his incredibly lifelike sculptures to impress the hip clientele.
From New York Times • May 12, 2024
At each stoplight, his gaze would light on someone — a brooding beatnik, a determined shopper — and he would have to fight down an urge to shout that he saw them.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
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.
