offbeat

[ adjective awf-beet, of-; noun awf-beet, of- ]
See synonyms for: offbeatoffbeats on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. differing from the usual or expected; unconventional: an offbeat comedian.

noun
  1. Music. an unaccented beat of a measure.

Origin of offbeat

1
First recorded in 1925–30; off + beat

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use offbeat in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for offbeat

offbeat

/ (ˈɒfˌbiːt) /


noun
  1. music any of the normally unaccented beats in a bar, such as the second and fourth beats in a bar of four-four time. They are stressed in most rock and some jazz and dance music, such as the bossa nova

adjective
    • unusual, unconventional, or eccentric

    • (as noun): he liked the offbeat in fashion

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