: 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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For more than 15 years, Adrian Younge has provided the backbeat for a large swath of Black entertainment — literally.
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Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 16 Apr. 2025
My background is so much in bluegrass, and bluegrass is all about that choppy kind of backbeat thing with the mandolin.
—Tom Roland, Billboard, 8 Apr. 2025
Time has eroded some of Fair’s quirks, turning him into a preservationist weirdo who still believes in the eternal truth of three chords and a backbeat.
—Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rolling Stone, 16 Mar. 2025
The ascent from quiet guitar picking to soul backbeat to power chords feels inevitable but satisfying.
—Jon Pareles, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2025
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Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 16 Apr. 2025
My background is so much in bluegrass, and bluegrass is all about that choppy kind of backbeat thing with the mandolin.
—Tom Roland, Billboard, 8 Apr. 2025
Time has eroded some of Fair’s quirks, turning him into a preservationist weirdo who still believes in the eternal truth of three chords and a backbeat.
—Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rolling Stone, 16 Mar. 2025
The ascent from quiet guitar picking to soul backbeat to power chords feels inevitable but satisfying.
—Jon Pareles, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for backbeat
Cite this Entry
“Backbeat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/backbeat. Accessed 28 Apr. 2025.
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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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