beat out
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (transitive):
- To extinguish by beating: To put out a fire by striking it repeatedly, typically with an object.
- To defeat narrowly or after a struggle: To overcome an opponent in a competition, contest, or conflict, often by a small margin or with significant effort.
- To produce a rhythm: To tap or strike something repeatedly to create a rhythmic pattern of sound.
Usage and Examples
To extinguish by beating:
- The campers used blankets to beat out the spreading grass fire.
- He managed to beat out the flames before they reached the curtains.
To defeat narrowly or after a struggle:
- The underdog team beat out the reigning champions in a thrilling overtime match.
- She beat out hundreds of applicants to win the prestigious scholarship.
To produce a rhythm:
- The drummer beat out a complex salsa rhythm on the congas.
- He beat out a steady tempo on the table with his fingers.
Advanced Usage
"to beat out a rival": To secure a position, victory, or advantage over a competitor.
- Our company beat out several larger rivals for the government contract.
"to beat out a tune": To play a simple melody by tapping.
- The child happily beat out a familiar tune on his toy xylophone.
Variants and Related Words
- Beat (verb): The base form, meaning to strike repeatedly, to defeat, or to pulsate.
- Outbeat (verb, rare): An uncommon variant with a similar meaning of surpassing or defeating.
Synonyms
- Extinguish: To cause a fire to stop burning.
- Defeat: To win a victory over someone in a battle or contest.
- Overcome: To succeed in dealing with a problem or opponent.
- Outdo: To be better than someone else in a particular activity.
- Tap out: To produce a rhythm by light, repeated strikes.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Beat off: To repel or drive back an attack or challenge.
- The defenders beat off the assault.
- Beat down: To subdue or suppress forcefully; also, of sun or rain, to fall intensely.
- The dictator tried to beat down all dissent.
Related Idioms
- Beat the odds: To succeed despite having a low probability of success.
- Against all expectations, the small startup beat the odds and became profitable.
- Beat someone to the punch: To do something before someone else does.
- We were planning to launch a similar product, but our competitors beat us to the punch.
Verb
- beat out a rhythm
- come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
- Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship
- We beat the competition
- Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game