beat off

as in to repel
to drive back the defense managed to beat off those offensive players who were taking shots at the goalie

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of beat off On this play, Tegra Tshabola got beat off the ball, forcing Donaldson to take a different hole before running into a defender who center Carson Hinzman was on until the hole shifted. Cameron Teague Robinson, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2025 Chip Somodevilla/Pool Photo via AP What To Know Obama beat off stiff competition from the likes of David Attenborough and Tom Hanks to win the Outstanding Narrator prize for his narration of the five-part Netflix series Our Oceans, which examines marine life across the world's oceans. Daniel Orton, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Sep. 2025 In 2024, it was given to Netflix France series Class Act, which beat off competition from huge hits like The Bear, Beef and Succession. Max Goldbart, Deadline, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for beat off
Verb
  • This creates a protective barrier that repels fingerprints and gives your appliances a sparkling finish.
    Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 19 Sep. 2025
  • And can painting cows with zebra stripes help repel biting flies?
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 18 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Cook, who remains at the Federal Reserve, has sued the president to resist her dismissal.
    Chris Prentice, USA Today, 14 Sep. 2025
  • Other times, long rates resist or even rise, flattening the curve and blunting the Fed’s impact.
    Robert Daugherty, Forbes.com, 13 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • According to a study from 2017, a third of the nation’s flagships—all highly ranked and thus popular with out-of-staters—turned away some of their own state’s residents to make room for higher-paying students from elsewhere.
    Jeffrey Selingo, New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2025
  • Don't run and don't turn away from the bear.
    Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 18 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Later in the season, as more northern waters cool off and the main hurricane development region stays toasty, the instability dial could be turned back up.
    Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Clayton Kershaw has turned back the clock.
    The Athletic MLB Staff, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Like Einstein, Brassard feels repulsed by the way the particles in the Bell experiment seem to have firsthand awareness of each other despite being separated by, in principle, light-years of space.
    Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 8 Aug. 2025
  • This is something that finally repulses Ivor, and that Orla also grapples with.
    Deborah Treisman, New Yorker, 27 July 2025
Verb
  • This frontloading helped support China's exports — and stave off a Christmas crunch.
    Evelyn Cheng, CNBC, 17 Sep. 2025
  • Chan, her mother and little brother tried to stave off hunger in rural China for four years, with her brother eventually dying from an epidemic that swept through their village.
    Martha Ross, Mercury News, 16 Sep. 2025

Cite this Entry

“Beat off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/beat%20off. Accessed 20 Sep. 2025.

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