upbeat
pronunciation
How to pronounce upbeat in British English:
UK [ˈʌpbi:t]
How to pronounce upbeat in American English:
US [ˈʌpˌbit]
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- Noun:
- a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous
- an unaccented beat (especially the last beat of a measure)
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- Adjective:
- pleasantly (even unrealistically) optimistic
Word Origin
- upbeat (adj.)
- "with a positive mood," 1947, apparently from on the upbeat "improving, getting better," attested from 1934 and a favorite of "Billboard" headline-writers in the early 1940s, from the musical noun upbeat (1869), referring to the beat of a bar at which the conductor's baton is in a raised position; from up (adv.) + beat (n.). The "optimistic" sense apparently for no other reason than that it sounds like a happy word (the musical upbeat is no more inherently "positive" than any other beat).
Example
- 1. Put upbeat songs on my ipod .
- 2. Sometimes all you need to ensure a good time is good eats , cocktails and upbeat music .
- 3. Fit by fun animates your exercise with illustrated trainers , upbeat music and a community feel , giving you a list of " classmates " currently using the site .
- 4. The camera showed her delivering a simple , upbeat message before moving to a man who wrote the same message " keep it simple " on a flip chart with a chunky felt tip marker .
- 5. Us bond prices slipped and german bonds followed suit , both on hopes for a deal and on more upbeat news from the us housing market .