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offbeat

noun
/ˈɒfbiːt/

Etymology

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

  1. derived from *bautaną✻ — “to push, strike”
  2. derived from *bautan✻
  3. derived from bēatan — “to beat, pound, strike, lash, dash, thrust, hurt, injure”
  4. inherited from beten
  5. prefixed as offbeat — “off + beat”

Definitions

  1. The beats not normally accented in a measure.

    • The congregation clapped along on the offbeat.

  2. An unconventional person, someone who does not follow the beat, who chooses not to…

    An unconventional person, someone who does not follow the beat, who chooses not to conform.

    • No one dignified such offbeats by responding to their outcries. Today, the "knockers of progress" have become a force that cannot be ignored.
    • Being an oddball, an offbeat, or a creative person, as Jourard sees the committed professional, is something all nurses should risk.
    • In addition to creating a web of stories that will be passed through many generations, these offbeats usually strengthen the fiber of their particular hobby […]

  3. Unusual

    Unusual; unconventional; not ordinary.

    • He has such an offbeat sense of humor that hardly anyone finds his jokes amusing.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at offbeat. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01offbeat02accented03accent04emphasis05important06crucial07reggae

A definitional loop anchored at offbeat. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at offbeat

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA