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What is the difference between overcome and beat?

overcome | beat |

Beat is a synonym of overcome.



In transitive terms the difference between overcome and beat

is that overcome is to surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of while beat is to indicate by beating or drumming.

In intransitive terms the difference between overcome and beat

is that overcome is to win or prevail in some sort of battle, contest, etc while beat is to move with pulsation or throbbing.

As a noun beat is

a stroke; a blow.

As an adjective beat is

exhausted.

overcome

English

Verb

  • To surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of.
  • :to overcome enemies in battle
  • *Spenser
  • *:This wretched woman overcome / Of anguish, rather than of crime, hath been.
  • *1898 , , (Moonfleet), Ch.4:
  • *:By and by fumes of brandy began to fill the air, and climb to where I lay, overcoming the mouldy smell of decayed wood and the dampness of the green walls.
  • (obsolete) To win (a battle).
  • *:
  • *:Ther with all cam kyng Arthur but with a fewe peple and slewe on the lyfte hand and on the ryght hand that wel nyhe ther escaped no man / but alle were slayne to the nombre of xxx M / And whan the bataille was all ended the kynge kneled doune and thanked god mekely / and thenne he sente for the quene and soone she was come / and she maade grete Ioye of the ouercomynge of that bataille
  • To win or prevail in some sort of battle, contest, etc.
  • :
  • *
  • , chapter=2, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired. And if the arts of humbleness failed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence.}}
  • (usually in passive) To overwhelm with emotion.
  • :
  • To come or pass over; to spread over.
  • *Shakespeare
  • *:And overcome us like a summer's cloud.
  • To overflow; to surcharge.
  • :
  • References

    * *

    beat

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) beten, from (etyl) ). Compare (etyl) batre, (etyl) battre.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A stroke; a blow.
  • * Dryden
  • He, with a careless beat , / Struck out the mute creation at a heat.
  • A pulsation or throb.
  • a beat''' of the heart; the '''beat of the pulse
  • A pulse on the beat level, the metric level at which pulses are heard as the basic unit. Thus a beat is the basic time unit of a piece.
  • A rhythm.
  • (music) A transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament.
  • The interference between two tones of almost equal frequency
  • A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect.
  • The route patrolled by a police officer or a guard.
  • to walk the beat
  • *
  • (by extension) An area of a person's responsibility, especially
  • # In journalism, the primary focus of a reporter's stories (such as police/courts, education, city government, business etc.).
  • (dated) A place of habitual or frequent resort.
  • (archaic) A low cheat or swindler.
  • ''a dead beat
  • The instrumental portion of a piece of hip-hop music.
  • Derived terms
    * afterbeat * backbeat, back beat * beat the meat * D-beat * deadbeat * downbeat * drumbeat * forebeat * heartbeat * inbeat * misbeat * offbeat * onbeat * outbeat * underbeat * upbeat * walk the beat
    See also
    * (piece of hip-hop music) track

    Verb

  • To hit; to knock; to pound; to strike.
  • As soon as she heard that Wiktionary was shutting down, she went into a rage and beat the wall with her fists until her knuckles bled.
  • * {{quote-news, date = 21 August 2012
  • , first = Ed , last = Pilkington , title = Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die? , newspaper = The Guardian , url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/21/death-penalty-trial-reggie-clemons?newsfeed=true , page = , passage = In this account of events, the cards were stacked against Clemons from the beginning. His appeal lawyers have argued that he was physically beaten into making a confession, the jury was wrongfully selected and misdirected, and his conviction largely achieved on individual testimony with no supporting forensic evidence presented.}}
  • To strike or pound repeatedly, usually in some sort of rhythm.
  • He danced hypnotically while she beat the atabaque.
  • To strike repeatedly; to inflict repeated blows; to knock vigorously or loudly.
  • * Bible, Judges xix. 22
  • The men of the city beat at the door.
  • * Dryden
  • Rolling tempests vainly beat below.
  • * Longfellow
  • They [winds] beat at the crazy casement.
  • * Bible, Jonath iv. 8
  • The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers.
  • To move with pulsation or throbbing.
  • * Byron
  • A thousand hearts beat happily.
  • To win against; to defeat or overcome; to do better than, outdo, or excel (someone) in a particular, competitive event.
  • Jan had little trouble beating John in tennis. He lost five games in a row.
    No matter how quickly Joe finished his test, Roger always beat him.
    I just can't seem to beat the last level of this video game.
  • (nautical) To sail to windward using a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
  • To strike (water, foliage etc.) in order to drive out game; to travel through (a forest etc.) for hunting.
  • * 1955 , (Robin Jenkins), The Cone-Gatherers , Canongate 2012, p. 81:
  • The part of the wood to be beaten for deer sloped all the way from the roadside to the loch.
  • To mix food in a rapid fashion. Compare whip.
  • Beat the eggs and whip the cream.
  • (transitive, UK, In haggling for a price) of a buyer, to persuade the seller to reduce a price
  • He wanted $50 for it, but I managed to beat him down to $35.
  • (nonstandard)
  • * 1825? , "Hannah Limbrick, Executed for Murder", in The Newgate Calendar: comprising interesting memoirs of the most notorious characters , page 231:
  • Thomas Limbrick, who was only nine years of age, said he lived with his mother when Deborah was beat : that his mother throwed her down all along with her hands; and then against a wall
  • To indicate by beating or drumming.
  • to beat''' a retreat''; ''to '''beat to quarters
  • To tread, as a path.
  • * Blackmore
  • pass awful gulfs, and beat my painful way
  • To exercise severely; to perplex; to trouble.
  • * John Locke
  • Why should any one beat his head about the Latin grammar who does not intend to be a critic?
  • To be in agitation or doubt.
  • * Shakespeare
  • to still my beating mind
  • To make a sound when struck.
  • The drums beat .
  • (military) To make a succession of strokes on a drum.
  • The drummers beat to call soldiers to their quarters.
  • To sound with more or less rapid alternations of greater and less intensity, so as to produce a pulsating effect; said of instruments, tones, or vibrations, not perfectly in unison.
  • Derived terms
    * beat a retreat * beat down * beat off * beater * beat about the bush * beat senseless * beat somebody to the punch * beat some sense into * beat the clock * beat the pants off * beat to quarters * beat up * beat to a pulp * bebeat * forbeat * inbeat * misbeat * overbeat * tobeat * underbeat * wife-beater

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (US slang) exhausted
  • After the long day, she was feeling completely beat .
  • dilapidated, beat up
  • Dude, you drive a beat car like that and you ain’t gonna get no honeys.
  • (gay slang) fabulous
  • Her makeup was beat!
  • (slang) boring
  • (slang, of a person) ugly
  • Synonyms
    * See also

    Etymology 2

    From (beatnik)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A beatnik.
  • Derived terms
    * beat generation

    References

    * DeLone et. al. (Eds.) (1975). Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0130493465.