beta male
Americannoun
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a male animal having the second-highest rank in a dominance hierarchy.
In the present study, social interactions between beta males were analyzed in groups of captive baboons.
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Slang: Sometimes Disparaging. a man who is perceived to be weak, mild-mannered, and unimpressive.
Etymology
Origin of beta male
First recorded in 1970–75 beta male for def. 1; 2005–10 beta male for def. 2
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.
Or in a more benign mode, consider the hanging-on-to-heterosexuality-by-a-thread beta male that Tony Randall used to play in all those Doris Day-Rock Hudson movies.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2024
In the wild, a colony typically consists of one alpha female, one beta male, and several gamma juveniles.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 1, 2024
A scraggly beta male, until he flips the alpha switch on everyone's asses.
From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2023
The initial mystery gives way to nail-digging survival drama, but the tension holds, as Russell’s chino-clad beta male morphs into a never-say-die action man of the most tenacious order.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 3, 2020
The answer—and this shouldn’t be a spoiler—is no, but that doesn’t keep Barry from intriguingly updating the antihero as a terrifying beta male.
From Slate ● Mar. 23, 2018
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.
