Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An unaccented beat in a measure.
  • adjective Not conforming to an ordinary type or pattern; unconventional.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun music The beats not normally accented in a measure.
  • noun slang An unconventional person, someone who does not follow the beat, who chooses not to conform.
  • adjective Unusual, unconventional, not ordinary.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective informal terms; strikingly unconventional
  • noun an unaccented beat (especially the last beat of a measure)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From off- +‎ beat; not following the beat (e.g., of a drum that sounds out cadence)

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Examples

  • Laura Linney to star in offbeat Showtime humerous entertainment commander upon lady with cancer, 'The C Word'

    Hero pilot Sullenberger jokes about marital boost in NBC 'People ... admin 2009

  • Laura Linney to star in offbeat Showtime humerous entertainment commander upon lady with cancer, 'The C Word'

    Archive 2009-11-01 admin 2009

  • Laura Linney to star in offbeat Showtime humerous entertainment commander upon lady with cancer, 'The C Word'

    Hero pilot Sullenberger jokes about marital boost in NBC 'People ... admin 2009

  • Laura Linney to star in offbeat Showtime humerous entertainment commander upon lady with cancer, 'The C Word'

    Archive 2009-11-01 admin 2009

  • Mix in offbeat football (it has a feature on Super Bowl Gatorade-dumping on coaches), get in network plugs (Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Tina Fey will pop up) and don't forget the mandatory cooking segment (in this case Tom Colicchio from Top Chef on NBC-owned Bravo).

    NBC putting on the peacock for Sunday 2009

  • Life without walls, '[and] will move away from the enigmatic teaser commercials that featured Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld in offbeat conversations about shopping, shoes, suburbia and the potential of computing to improve life.

    Goodbye, Jerry: Microsoft moves away from Seinfeld-Gates ads 2008

  • "I'm really pleased and frankly relieved to report," begins Glenn Kenny, "that, a couple of snippable minutes and some dubious music choices aside (that Cake song about the jacket is one thing, but a cover of Howard Jones's 'No One Is To Blame' is pushing it), writer/director Adrienne Shelly's final feature Waitress is a delight, a refreshing comedy that mixes a bunch of familiar ingredients in offbeat ways that payoff every time, much in the way that its title character Jenna (the fabulous Keri Russell) blends, say, blackberries with bittersweet chocolate in her universally beloved pies."

    GreenCine Daily: Sundance. Waitress. 2007

  • Graffiti is a 50 000-word offbeat, character driven narrative fiction, aimed at the audience of over 18 year olds. yea, Grandmother Snark is sure to want it

    HH Com 625 Miss Snark 2006

  • Graffiti is a 50 000-word offbeat, character driven narrative fiction, aimed at the audience of over 18 year olds. yea, Grandmother Snark is sure to want it

    Archive 2006-12-24 Miss Snark 2006

  • Graffiti is a 50 000-word offbeat, character driven narrative fiction, aimed at the audience of over 18 year olds. yea, Grandmother Snark is sure to want it

    12/24/2006 - 12/31/2006 Miss Snark 2006

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