beta male

[ bey-tuh meyl; or, especially British bee- ]

noun

1. a male animal having the second-highest rank in a dominance hierarchy:

   In the present study, social interactions between beta males were analyzed in groups of captive baboons.

2. Slang: Sometimes Disparaging. a man who is perceived to be weak, mild-mannered, and unimpressive.

Word History and Origins

Origin of beta male¹

First recorded in 1970–75 beta male fordef 1; 2005–10 beta male fordef 2

Example Sentences

The show centers on Doug, a beta male buffoon who tells us he was the kind of kid who could never have fun at a party.

From New York Times

Or in a more benign mode, consider the hanging-on-to-heterosexuality-by-a-thread beta male that Tony Randall used to play in all those Doris Day-Rock Hudson movies.

From New York Times

In the wild, a colony typically consists of one alpha female, one beta male, and several gamma juveniles.

From Science Daily

And the beta male rises and becomes an alpha and dominates the alpha male, and that way justice is done.

From Salon

We're used to the stories in which the alpha male – the Roy Tillman, the jilted ex-husband – and the current husband, who's the nice guy, the beta male, that there is inevitably going to be a scene in which they have to face off against each other.

From Salon