upbeat

[uhp-beet]

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noun Music.

an unaccented beat, especially immediately preceding a downbeat.

the upward stroke with which a conductor indicates such a beat.

adjective

optimistic; happy; cheerful: television dramas with predictably upbeat endings.

Origin of upbeat

1865–70; 1950–55 for def 3; up- + beat

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for upbeat

positive, sanguine, encouraging, hopeful, rosy, buoyant, cheery, happy, optimistic, favorable, fond, promising, heartening

Examples from the Web for upbeat

Contemporary Examples of upbeat

And despite the good scholarship the authors have managed to retain the buoyancy and upbeat air attendant on most comics.
The Best Coffee Table Books of 2014
Robert Birnbaum
December 13, 2014
When it came to pop music in 1964, there was plenty to listen to that was upbeat and fun in addition to The Beatles.
The Beatles and JFK 50 Years Later
Nicolaus Mills
February 2, 2014
Even the films a little off the mainstream hype-track have an upbeat bravura, or unexpected hero-on-a-journey.
Why No Oscar Love For 'Inside Llewyn Davis'?
Tim Teeman
January 20, 2014
Even anecdotes that are supposed to be upbeat turn out to be barbed.
Sarah Palin Serves Up a Healthy Serving of Venom in Her Christmas Book
Michelle Cottle
November 16, 2013
The mood was light and upbeat, hems were low, and fit was loose.
Proenza Schouler Spring/Summer 2014: Serenity Now
Isabel Wilkinson
September 11, 2013

British Dictionary definitions for upbeat

upbeat

noun

music

a usually unaccented beat, esp the last in a bar
the upward gesture of a conductor's baton indicating thisCompare downbeat

an upward trend (in prosperity, etc)

adjective

informal marked by cheerfulness or optimism

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for upbeat

adj.

"with a positive mood," 1947, apparently from the musical noun upbeat (1869), referring to the beat of a bar at which the conductor's baton is in a raised position; the "optimistic" sense apparently for no other reason than that it sounds like a happy word (the musical upbeat is no more inherently "positive" than any other beat). Expression on the upbeat "improving, getting better" is recorded from 1934.