backbeat

American  

[bak-beet] / ˈbækˌbit /

noun

Popular Music.

1. a secondary or supplementary beat, as by a jazz drummer.

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backbeat British  

/ ˈbækˌbiːt /

noun

1. music the second and fourth beats of a bar written in even time or, in more complex time signatures, the last beat of the bar Compare downbeat upbeat

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Etymology

Origin of backbeat

back ¹ + beat

Example Sentences

The album’s opener, “What Can I Say,” is a rollicking, danceable breakup song fortified by a sharp backbeat, funky bassline and synthesizer strings.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026

What had been the backbeat of a bygone epoch, the waltz amazingly survived in the 20th century.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 31, 2024

Others were written especially for the album, like “Dance Revival,” which features a foot-stomping, hand-clapping backbeat behind the electrifying voice of Jekalyn Carr.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 26, 2023

Amid strumming guitars and a stolid backbeat, they sing about how “we got through it somehow,” and how a holiday can offer at least a temporary reconciliation.

From New York Times • Dec. 23, 2022

They created a cultural rumble, a backbeat of intrigue.

From Washington Post • Nov. 17, 2022