Slang

offbeat

This page is about the slang term offbeat

Meaning

unconventional, not typical, strange

For example

  • He was a little offbeat, but Captain Beefheart was a wonderful musician.

  • Jackson Pollock's abstract expressionist paintings were seen as being offbeat when he created them, but many are now regarded as genuine masterpieces.

Quick Quiz

William Burroughs' books were called offbeat because they were

a. typical twentieth-century novels

b. more imaginative than most novels

c. cheap and badly written
a) typical twentieth-century novels b) more imaginative than most novels c) cheap and badly written

See Slang of the Day today

Contributor: Matt Errey