bleep
Americannoun
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a brief, constant beeping sound, usually of a high pitch and generated by an electronic device.
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such an electronic sound used to replace a censored word or phrase, as on a television broadcast.
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Also (used as a euphemism to indicate the omission or deletion of an obscenity or other objectionable word.)
verb (used without object)
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bleeps,
present (3rd person singular)
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bleeped,
past participle, past
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bleeping
present participle
verb (used with object)
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bleeps,
present (3rd person singular)
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bleeped,
past participle, past
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bleeping
present participle
noun
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a short high-pitched signal made by an electronic apparatus; beep
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another word for bleeper
verb
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(intr) to make such a noise
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(tr) to call (someone) by triggering the bleeper he or she is wearing
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bleepsimple
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bleepssimple
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have bleepedperfect
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has bleepedperfect
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am bleepingprogressive
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are bleepingprogressive
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is bleepingprogressive
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have been bleepingperfect progressive
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has been bleepingperfect progressive
Past
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bleepedsimple
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had bleepedperfect
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was bleepingprogressive
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were bleepingprogressive
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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 six-part comedy may bleep out every mention of “FIFA” and “Cup.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
“I’ll be catching up with an old friend that I haven’t seen in a long time,” Cape said, “and all of a sudden my phone goes — bleep — 30 minutes until the Subhumans!”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2024
“I can’t have the full wording on the shirts, but we’ll bleep out some letters.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 2024
The tribunal accepted the MoD's argument that level 7.6 on the bleep test was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim but said the application of the test must also be proportionate.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2023
A persistent bleep, bleep, bleep rose over the rattle of traffic.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
These bleeps sound alive and then suddenly, there is life: hundreds of pleasure-seekers stomping in the sand as laser beams outline alien towers over these orange cliffs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2025
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
At the time, Amy Hunt was worried that her words might be bleeped out by the BBC.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
Sharon Osbourne’s frequently bleeped candor on “The Osbournes” was hilarious, remember?
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2025
The video has been edited, emojis have been added, and some comments have been bleeped out - but authorities are not questioning its authenticity.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2025
But that speech was supposed to start “I bleeped up,” and that was sort of his pitch to me.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2023
Finally, I attached the simcap of my chatlink session with Sorrento, but I bleeped the part where he said my real name and blurred the image of my school photo.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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. Because they’re highlighting it then. Just don’t play the record!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2022
"They're making it worse by bleeping it, for sure," he said.
From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2022
The intensive care unit is L-shaped and dim, a jumble of bleeping monitors and whirring machines.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
