downbeat
8
4.4
- adjective
- /ˈdaʊnˌbiːt/
:
pesimista
- One explanation for professionals' relatively downbeat assessment is the finding that two-thirds have experienced increased bureaucracy as a result of personalization.
- downbeat and upbeat
- downbeat passages
So people are asking me last week why I was rather downbeat and I apologize for that.
- So people are asking me last week why I was rather downbeat and I apologize for that.
- And if you just focus on that, you end up just leaving your audience feeling downbeat and unhappy.
Examples
-
A silver lining in his otherwise downbeat prognostication is that he expects any recession to be mild.
Blog text (24) -
When I last visited, I was shocked at how depressed and downbeat everyone was.
Blog text (29) -
I think it's too downbeat.
-
So people are asking me last week why I was rather downbeat and I apologize for that.
-
And if you just focus on that, you end up just leaving your audience feeling downbeat and unhappy.
-
The Great Escape was entertaining to me, although downbeat, like you mentioned.
Blog text (10) -
Even Chris Patten, the chairman of the BBC, sounds deeply downbeat about the future.
Blog text (22) -
There was never great enthusiasm at Warners for making the film; by Hollywood's lights, it was a downbeat story about the downtrodden.
Academic text (2002) -
If the perspective that boys take with regard to literacy is as downbeat as Fletcher's survey suggests, then it is one that educators must work hard to correct.
Academic text (2012) -
He always has a downbeat expression, which makes it hard for others to feel cheerful around him.
Synonyms
441
3.5
Feeling very sad and without hope
336
1.0
Feeling sad or without energy
37
5.9
Feeling or showing deep sadness
29
2.5
Feeling sad and without much hope
24
6.7
Feeling sad or unhappy
23
4.1
Looking or feeling sad and quiet
18
7.7
Feeling very sad and without hope about the future
16
7.5
Feeling sad or disappointed about something
5
4.5
Feeling very sad and not hopeful
5
5.8
Feeling sad and low
5
7.5
Sad and disappointed because what you hoped for did not happen
4
4.6
Feeling very hopeless and sad
3
4.7
Feeling sad and without much hope
1
4.1
Feeling sad and without much hope
1
5.1
Feeling sad and without much energy
Feeling sad and without energy
Feeling a little sad or down
Antonyms
How Sad
Surface Forms
Morphology
downbeat = beat (semi-transparent) = down + beat
The component 'down' signals a negative or low mood, but 'beat' here does not carry its primary musical sense and the combined adjective is somewhat idiomatic (gloomy/dejected), so learners can only partially infer the meaning. [Postprocessing: moved 'down' from base_words to prefix]
Etymology
Downbeat comes from down ('sad' or 'low') and beat ('tired' or 'defeated'), so it describes a gloomy, low-energy mood. A helpful way to remember it is the phrase 'I'm beat' for tired — add 'down' and you get 'downbeat', meaning feeling low.