Misbeat
//ˈmɪsbiːt// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A false, wrong, or incorrect beat; a beat in the wrong time or rhythm.
"Leigh's heart gave a little misbeat as she watched the exchange."
Verb
- 1 To beat out of rhythm; beat incorrectly. intransitive, transitive
"The assistant's role is not a minor one: When they become shaman, after they start in, his assistants have to know just what song to sing and how to beat the drum. If they misbeat the drum, the shaman just become normal again."
Example
More examples"Leigh's heart gave a little misbeat as she watched the exchange."
Etymology
From mis- + beat.
More for "misbeat"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.