beep
Americannoun
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beeps
plural
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a short, relatively high-pitched tone produced by a horn, electronic device, or the like as a signal, summons, or warning.
-
one of the periodic signals sounded by a beeper.
verb (used without object)
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beeps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
beeped,
past participle, past
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beeping
present participle
verb (used with object)
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beeps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
beeped,
past participle, past
-
beeping
present participle
-
to sound (a horn, warning signal, etc.).
impatient drivers beeping their horns.
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to announce, warn, summon, etc., by beeping.
The doctor was beeped to call the hospital.
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
beepsimple
-
beepssimple
-
have beepedperfect
-
has beepedperfect
-
am beepingprogressive
-
are beepingprogressive
-
is beepingprogressive
-
have been beepingperfect progressive
-
has been beepingperfect progressive
Past
-
beepedsimple
-
had beepedperfect
-
was beepingprogressive
-
were beepingprogressive
-
had been beepingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of beep
First recorded in 1925–30; imitative
Explanation
A beep is a brief warning sound. You might give a quick beep on your car horn to let a bicyclist know you're passing her on the road. Your friend's voice mail might say, "Leave a message after the beep!" and your smoke alarm might emit an annoying series of beeps when its battery is dying. In either case, you'll hear a high-pitched, brief tone. The word is imitative — it sounds like what it means — and relatively new, only as old as the car horns it imitates. Beep was first an interjection in the 1920s, and a noun and a verb by the end of the decade.
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:
Moxi – which shuttles medical supplies around hospitals – might respond by displaying its heart-shaped LED eyes and a beep beep greeting of its own.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
And, I promise, if the apocalypse actually comes, you can still beep me.”
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2026
She added: “I promise if the apocalypse actually comes you can still beep me.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
When she heard the beep to start, Vonn dug her pink ski poles into the snow and set off on a run that already ranked as one of the most audacious in Olympic history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026
A loud beep came from upstairs, and Bitter turned her head.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
Mygal’s phone beeps with the all-clear at 8:02 a.m.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
Tina Tallon, a professor of artificial intelligence and music composition at The Ohio State University, explains that a "click track" features clicks or beeps such as a metronome, or other cues to capture rhythm.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
Clocky, a wheeled device that made its debut about 20 years ago, hops off a bedside table and beeps as it zooms around the room.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
My days are filled with the beeps and growls of bulldozers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2025
When the microwave beeps, he brings the hot chocolate over to the bar and sets the cookies in front of me.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
Shortly afterwards, mobile phones beeped in unison as a missile alert came in and the wail of sirens started up.
From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026
Machines beeped and whirred as my husband laid on the hospital bed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025
The craft beeped awake, arched its hawklike shoulders, and whined off into the valley.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2024
Monitors beeped; Shakira played on the sound system.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 19, 2023
The computer beeped and a message appeared on the screen.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
For hospital patients, the incessant beeping and buzzing of alarms from monitors, pumps and other devices can make sleep almost impossible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Even stranger was the beeping that awakened Lassiter one morning.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026
"There was just this incessant beeping," she said.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
The low hum of cars passing and horns beeping in the distance gives me a sense of safety; I’m never alone.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2026
Or a group of science people doing research about plankton or the chemicals found in floating seaweed, all these waterproof monitors beeping and flashing next to ’em on deck.
From "We Were Here" by Matt De La Peña
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.
