bleep
Americannoun
-
a brief, constant beeping sound, usually of a high pitch and generated by an electronic device.
-
such an electronic sound used to replace a censored word or phrase, as on a television broadcast.
-
Also (used as a euphemism to indicate the omission or deletion of an obscenity or other objectionable word.)
verb (used without object)
-
bleeps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bleeped,
past participle, past
-
bleeping
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
bleeps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bleeped,
past participle, past
-
bleeping
present participle
noun
-
a short high-pitched signal made by an electronic apparatus; beep
-
another word for bleeper
verb
-
(intr) to make such a noise
-
(tr) to call (someone) by triggering the bleeper he or she is wearing
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
bleepsimple
-
bleepssimple
-
have bleepedperfect
-
has bleepedperfect
-
am bleepingprogressive
-
are bleepingprogressive
-
is bleepingprogressive
-
have been bleepingperfect progressive
-
has been bleepingperfect progressive
Past
-
bleepedsimple
-
had bleepedperfect
-
was bleepingprogressive
-
were bleepingprogressive
-
had been bleepingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bleep
First recorded in 1950–55; perhaps imitative
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 players took part in a bleep test on Monday, won by Walsh, whose physique has developed significantly.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
The six-part comedy may bleep out every mention of “FIFA” and “Cup.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
"As soon as I said it, I was like, 'oh my gosh, I'm on the BBC'. I was like, 'are they going to bleep that out?' I feel so bad," says Hunt.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
It wasn’t that we were super eager to curse, but it was funny to bleep things.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2024
Number tenner, and a grinner, a bleep bloop blinner, that's not a word but I'm a beginner, not like Patty, Patty's a winner, wih-winner.
From "Sunny" by Jason Reynolds
We took the lift down to the ballroom, and an agent wanded me but wasn't particularly interested in the bleeps set off by the contents of my inside jacket pocket.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026
She flipped cheerleader routines into an overwhelming bitcrushed force, burying them in a maelstrom of bleeps, bloops and primal screams that sounded like the optimism of Silicon Valley crashing down around her ears.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2025
More all-sky radio surveys have come online, and observers now know to wait for the slow blips and bleeps of LPTs.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 3, 2024
As low-Earth orbit fills with telecommunications satellite constellations, astronomers are studying how to do their jobs when many cosmic objects will be all but obscured by the satellites’ glinting solar panels and radio bleeps.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 7, 2022
Now that I’m breathing on my own, my wall of machines bleeps far less, so I get fewer visits from the nurses.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
Sharon Osbourne’s frequently bleeped candor on “The Osbournes” was hilarious, remember?
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2025
Swear words are always bleeped out during TV broadcasts by F1, which delays the transmission of team radio conversations so they can be vetted for language.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2024
But that speech was supposed to start “I bleeped up,” and that was sort of his pitch to me.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2023
CBS apparently found this a bit too brave and bleeped the speech in the telecast.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2023
I’d seen a couple of births on that cable-TV show, and people usually yelled for a while; sometimes they swore and it had to be bleeped, but it never took longer than half an hour.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
A cadre of hyper-online collaborators sing and rap over his bleeping, blurry beats, including Lil Uzi Vert, Shygirl and PinkPantheress.
From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2022
"They’re making it worse by bleeping it for sure," he said.
From Fox News ● Jan. 12, 2022
"They're making it worse by bleeping it, for sure," he told The Telegraph.
From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2022
"They're making it worse by bleeping it, for sure," he said.
From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2022
There are oxygen tubes and IVs and monitors with bleeping lights.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
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.
