breakbeat

noun

break·​beat ˈbrāk-ˌbēt How to pronounce breakbeat (audio)
variants or break beat
: a repetitive drum pattern in hip-hop and dance music
also : music based on breakbeats

Examples of breakbeat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Left Unsaid, a jazz breakbeat fusion duo, performed live for the first time at Unusual Tuesday‘s last April show. — Christopher Buchanan, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2026 Surprising melodic choices ride a chameleonic song structure that stutters and shrieks, bounces and raves with a fresh mix of Big Beat, UKG, breakbeats, and electro-pop sounds. — Kat Bein, SPIN, 21 May 2026 Ryan Davis, a singer and songwriter from Louisville, Kentucky, makes tuneful, funny music that’s vaguely rooted in country and indie-rock, but also leaves room for hard left turns, including unforeseeable breakbeats. — Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025 As if rapping from a speeding time machine, Wiki flows about yellow taxis turning into Uber Eats over an instrumental that cruises from a soft breakbeat into a total breakdown of glitchy scratches courtesy of Lil Ugly Mane. — Lei Takanashi, Pitchfork, 16 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for breakbeat

Word History

Etymology

break entry 2 (solo musical passage)

First Known Use

1988, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of breakbeat was in 1988

Rhymes for breakbeat

See All Rhymes for breakbeat

Browse Nearby Words

breakback
breakbeat
breakbone fever
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Breakbeat.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/breakbeat. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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