What does "bead" mean?
Prayer, later especially with a rosary.
Bead
/biːd/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Prayer, later especially with a rosary.
- Grammar: bead is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: abacus bead, anklet, armlet, astragal.
- Useful contrasts: dry, evaporate, remove beads.
- Usage evidence: He drew a bead on a stag at bay.
How to use "bead"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "bead" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "bead" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "bead" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "bead" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "bead" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abacus bead" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "bead", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Prayer, later especially with a rosary. archaic
"That he must believe in the Pope;—go to Mass;—cross himself;—tell his beads;—be a good Catholick, and that this, in all conscience, was enough to carry him to heaven."
- 2 a small ball with a hole through the middle wordnet
- 3 Each in a string of small balls making up the rosary or paternoster.
"Holonym: prayer beads"
- 4 a beaded molding for edging or decorating furniture wordnet
- 5 A small, round object.; A small, round object with a hole to allow it to be threaded on a cord or wire, particularly for decorative purposes.
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 a shape that is spherical and small wordnet
- 7 A small, round object.; Various small, round solid objects.
"Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads."
- 8 A small, round object.; A small drop of water or other liquid.
"beads of sweat"
- 9 A small, round object.; A bubble, in spirits.
- 10 A small, round object.; A small, round ball at the end of a barrel of a gun used for aiming.
"She drew a bead on the target and fired."
- 11 A small, round object.; A small, round ball at the end of a barrel of a gun used for aiming.; Knowledge sufficient to direct one's activities to a purpose. broadly
"We now have a bead on the main technical issues for the project"
- 12 A ridge, band, or molding.; A rigid edge of a tire that mounts it on a wheel; tire bead.
- 13 A ridge, band, or molding.; A narrow molding with semicircular section.
- 14 A glassy drop of molten flux, as borax or microcosmic salt, used as a solvent and color test for several mineral earths and oxides, as of iron, manganese, etc., before the blowpipe. dated, physical
"the borax bead; the iron bead, etc."
Verb
- 1 To form into a bead. intransitive
"The raindrops beaded on the car's waxed finish."
- 2 string together like beads wordnet
- 3 To apply beads to. transitive
"She spent the morning beading the gown."
- 4 decorate by sewing beads onto wordnet
- 5 To form into a bead. transitive
"He beaded some solder for the ends of the wire."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 form into beads, as of water or sweat, for example wordnet
- 7 To cause beads to form on (something). transitive
"Only the hum of the miserable creatures stirred the heavy murk that beaded our foreheads with sweat as we pushed our way through it."
Proper Noun
- 1 Acronym of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
"The language fails to specify whether states that accept the funding for AI infrastructure could risk losing their original BEAD allotments if found out of compliance, it fails to address the broad and vague definitions of covered technologies, and it fails to address the sole problem it sought to address: the so-called patchwork of state laws."
Example
"He drew a bead on a stag at bay."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "bead"?
Common synonyms include: abacus bead, anklet, armlet, astragal, ball, balloon.
How do you use "bead" in a sentence?
He drew a bead on a stag at bay.
How do you pronounce "bead"?
Pronounced /biːd/.
Etymology
From Middle English bede (“a prayer”), also “a bead for counting prayers” in a peire of bedes (literally “a pair of beads”), from Old English bedu, bed, ġebed (“a request, entreaty, prayer”), from Proto-West Germanic *bedu, *bed, *gabed, from Proto-Germanic *bedō, *bedą. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gebäd (“prayer”), Cimbrian gapéet (“prayer”), Dutch gebed and bede (“prayer”), German Gebet (“prayer”), Low German Gebett (“prayer”), Luxembourgish Gebiet (“prayer”), Vilamovian gybāt (“prayer”).