: a steady pronounced rhythm stressing the second and fourth beats of a four-beat measure
Examples of backbeat in a Sentence
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There’s no sound more evocative of summer than that of an old-school ice cream maker’s motor droning its monotonous naaaaaaaa with the backbeat of gas station ice and rock salt grinding and shifting against the spinning ice cream cannister.
—
Josh Miller, Southern Living, 31 May 2026
Point spreads and moneylines ran constantly through my head, mingling with the omnipresent Christmas carols to create a strange backbeat to the holiday season.
—Mckay Coppins, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2026
In testing, the ominous backbeat drove the track, while the screeching riffs and vocals stood against it.
—Will Greenwald, PC Magazine, 6 Mar. 2026
Working with longtime partner bassist Robbie Shakespeare (who died in 2021), Dunbar was one half of the dynamic duo that provided the thrumming backbeat to reggae classics from the likes of Black Uhuru, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer, Gregory Isaacs and countless others.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 26 Jan. 2026
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Josh Miller, Southern Living, 31 May 2026
Point spreads and moneylines ran constantly through my head, mingling with the omnipresent Christmas carols to create a strange backbeat to the holiday season.
—Mckay Coppins, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2026
In testing, the ominous backbeat drove the track, while the screeching riffs and vocals stood against it.
—Will Greenwald, PC Magazine, 6 Mar. 2026
Working with longtime partner bassist Robbie Shakespeare (who died in 2021), Dunbar was one half of the dynamic duo that provided the thrumming backbeat to reggae classics from the likes of Black Uhuru, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer, Gregory Isaacs and countless others.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 26 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for backbeat
Cite this Entry
“Backbeat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/backbeat. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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backbeat
noun
back·beat
-ˌbēt 
: a steady pronounced rhythm stressing the second and fourth beats of a four-beat measure
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