as in hopeless
emphasizing or expecting the worst
a downbeat prediction for the company's sales performance in the upcoming year
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in downturn
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of downbeat
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 30 May 2025
The album is almost entirely instrumental, featuring a polyphonic blend of percussion, strings, keyboards, synths, and woodwinds, with André’s flute driving the downbeat.
—Ime Ekpo, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025
Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Money, 12 Sep. 2025
In 1965 Viking published, to little notice or acclaim or sales, the novel Stoner by John Williams, a downbeat story of a quiet English professor in Missouri who encounters a succession of disappointments in his life and career.
—Paul Slovak
september 8, Literary Hub, 8 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for downbeat
Adjective
This year, several other art-house and repertory film organizations around the country are getting in on the downbeat, among them the Paris Theater in New York City and the Music Box in Chicago.
—Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 30 May 2025
The album is almost entirely instrumental, featuring a polyphonic blend of percussion, strings, keyboards, synths, and woodwinds, with André’s flute driving the downbeat.
—Ime Ekpo, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025
Noun
American consumers are downbeat about the economy, according to preliminary results of a monthly survey conducted by the University of Michigan.
—Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Money, 12 Sep. 2025
In 1965 Viking published, to little notice or acclaim or sales, the novel Stoner by John Williams, a downbeat story of a quiet English professor in Missouri who encounters a succession of disappointments in his life and career.
—Paul Slovak
september 8, Literary Hub, 8 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for downbeat
Recent Examples of Synonyms for downbeat
Adjective
-
Gein’s sickness is singular and curable, but ours, as a society, is out of control and hopeless?—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
4 Oct. 2025
-
The bubble-ists think that the Coreweave people are hopeless dreamers at best and shysters at worst.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
28 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Hyperscalers such as Microsoft are unlikely to reduce capital expenditure due to minor equity downturns or cryptocurrency volatility.—
Michael Khouw,
CNBC,
13 Oct. 2025
-
Surprisingly, or perhaps not, WBD is shrugging off the downturn, up a hair to near $18, continuing to be buoyed by takeover talk.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
As my colleague Charlie Warzel wrote in March, on X, the White House is now a troll account, borrowing its snide visual language and tone from some of the internet’s most cynical spaces and deploying this style to mock and dehumanize people.—
Kaitlyn Tiffany,
The Atlantic,
9 Oct. 2025
-
The whole discourse was so cynical.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Consumer sentiment soured in October as a government shutdown threatens to weaken a wobbly economy beset by an uptick in inflation and a sharp slowdown of hiring, fresh data on Friday showed.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
10 Oct. 2025
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That had the side benefit of building a hedge against economic slowdowns, as such merchandise often appeals to consumers who are tightening their belts.—
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson,
semafor.com,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The discovery report recorded that the top drawer of the desk contains the provisioner’s ledger and the captain’s expedition journal, but the Danish team who found the ship were pessimistic about the likelihood of the books surviving the tow.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Oct. 2025
-
The Wine Country actress, who performed on SNL for seven seasons from 1999 to 2006, recalled the origins of her profusely pessimistic character during an interview with her former castmate Amy Poehler on Good Hang.—
Wesley Stenzel,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
With his brother, Josh, Benny has built a career on his fascination with these occasionally surly characters, often men on the downswing.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
9 Oct. 2025
-
Sales at Dave & Buster’s have been on the downswing for quite some time, and Lal acknowledged that the trend is continuing this quarter.—
David Goldman,
CNN Money,
16 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Meanwhile, things are looking bleak for John Cena’s Chris Smith.—
Peter White,
Deadline,
10 Oct. 2025
-
But while these models are enthrall Environmental activist Jane Goodall, who died Wednesday at the age of 91, understood the bleak projections from climate scientists — and the economic and political structures that hinder change.—
Esther Zuckerman,
Time,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
What began as a protest against a government social media ban quickly morphed into a broader revolt against corruption and economic stagnation.—
Kara Fox,
CNN Money,
4 Oct. 2025
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Recent data suggests that consumer confidence is falling as the stagnation in the labor market becomes more clear.—
John W. Diamond,
The Conversation,
2 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Downbeat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/downbeat. Accessed 17 Oct. 2025.
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