offbeat.

1. Falling on weak beats or between the main beats of a rhythm.

2. Unusual or unconventional, often in an interesting or appealing way.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• an offbeat accent
• offbeat rhythms

On the page

The offbeat accents kept the dancers listening closely to the drummer.

Usage notes

Primary category: sensory / description. Forms: Musical adjective normally non-gradable; general adjective comparative more offbeat, superlative most offbeat. Musical noun singular offbeat; plural offbeats. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description. Commonness: moderately common.