beta
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: bēʹtə
ipa: /ˈbiːtə/
enpr: bāʹtə
ipa: /ˈbeɪtə/
ipa: [ˈbeɪɾə]
note: Indic
enpr: bēʹtä
note: Indic
enpr: bāʹtä
ipa: /ˈbiʈɑ/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈbeʈɑ/
note: Indic
enpr: bĕʹtə
ipa: /ˈbɛtə/
rhymes: -iːtə
rhymes: -eɪtə
rhymes: (Philippines) -ɛtə
homophone: beater (UK, non-rhotic)
homophone: baiter (US, non-rhotic)
Forms: form: betas
Etymology: From Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta). Doublet of beth.
Senses: glosses: The second letter of the Greek alphabet (Β, β), preceded by alpha (Α, α) and followed by gamma, (Γ, γ). In modern Greek it represents the voiced labiodental fricative sound of v found in the English words have and vase.
examples: text: But let me tell you happy extroverts that only Vera Telfer and H. A. C. Evans got even an alpha minus; only T. E. Hendrie got a beta plus […]
ref: 1957, R. Avery, “This Week’s Competition”, in Time & Tide, volume 38, number 1, page 184:
text: Mr Taylor would hardly give a beta minus to one of his history students […]
ref: 1964, Randolph Churchill, The Fight for the Tory Leadership: A Contemporary Chronicle, page 49:
text: The English class was for me delightful. My essays, still written under the influence of Kubla Khan, nearly always got a beta plus.
ref: 1979, Angus MacVicar, Silver in My Sporran: Confessions of a Writing Man, page 76:
topics: education
glosses: An academic grade better than a gamma and worse than an alpha.
examples: text: An inspection of the results indicate that Property Trusts is the lowest risk industry with a long-run beta of 0.4520 while Gold is the highest risk industry with a long-run beta of 1.5229.
ref: 2001, Cheng-Few Lee, editor, Advances in Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management, volume 8, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 143:
topics: business
finance
glosses: Average sensitivity of a security's price to overall securities market prices.
examples: text: The company is offering a public beta program to test the software.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
video-games
glosses: The phase of development after alpha testing and before launch, in which software, while not complete, has been released to potential users for testing.
examples: text: He quickly deduced our goal—ship a quality beta—but he also quickly discerned that we had no idea about the quality of the product because of our pile of untriaged bugs.
ref: 2007, Michael Lopp, Managing Humans, page 107:
text: We will assume you got the .tgz version—later 2.x series versions such as 2.5.2 or 2.6.0 should be okay, provided they are production releases (not alphas, betas, or release candidates).
ref: 2007, Mark Summerfield, Rapid GUI Programming with Python and Qt: The Definitive Guide to PyQt Programming, Pearson Education, →ISBN:
text: Before Evolve had even seen its first beta, the game's publisher dipped its toe into presenting it as an eSport.
ref: 2015 February 14, Steven Strom, “Evolve Review: Middle of the food chain”, in Ars Technica:
text: Apple is rolling out the public beta of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 on Thursday. We have a full (and lengthy) preview guide on both operating systems here, and now we’re breaking down how to get the public beta on your iPhone or iPad.
These versions of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 are betas and don’t represent final software.
ref: 2020 July 9, Jacob Krol, “Here’s how to get the iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 public beta”, in CNN:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
video-games
glosses: Software in such a phase; a preliminary version.
examples: text: beta levels; beta characters; beta items in a video game
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
video-games
glosses: Any kind of content from early development that was not used in the final product.
topics: climbing
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Information about a route which may aid someone in climbing it.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: A beta particle or beta ray.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: Sideslip angle.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: The range of engine power settings in which the blade pitch angle of a constant-speed propeller is controlled directly by the angle of the engine's throttle lever (rather than varying with engine torque and airspeed to maintain a constant propeller RPM), allowing the propeller to be disked to generate high drag and slow the aircraft quickly.
glosses: Alternative spelling of betta (“fish in the genus Betta”).
examples: text: “I guess in your psychological language of alpha males and beta males, I would be firmly in the camp that prefers the more laid-back betas,” she took a deep breath, “like your father.”
ref: 2006, Catherine Mann, Blaze of Glory, Harlequin, published 2006, →ISBN:
text: “They want sexy, virile alpha males, yes? But that doesn't come with sensitive and loyal and all of that. That's a beta. A frickin' collie, Lola. […]
ref: 2010, L. A. Banks, “Dog Tired (of the Drama!)”, in Kevin J. Anderson, editor, Blood Lite II: Overbite, Gallery Books, →ISBN, page 121:
text: She'd always had a thing for alpha males. Not that she had any intention of being bossed around, even if one had her best interests at heart. Her fascination with alphas was that they were a challenge. Betas didn't hold much of an appeal.
ref: 2010, Terry Spear, Wolf Fever, Sourcebooks Casablanca, published 2010, →ISBN, page 24:
text: When they ride the cock carousel in preference to the responsible betas that they find so boring, well, we guess that they pay.
ref: 2015, Stephen Jarosek, Tyrants of Matriarchy:
text: News of Harper-Mercer's murder spree, which killed ten, prompted speculation on neoreactionary forums that the long-awaited “beta uprising” of virginal shut-ins had begun. Not quite. But in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, a large audience of Americans finally saw the real beta uprising in the violent Nazi rally that shut the city down
ref: 2018, Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die:
topics: government
human-sciences
ideology
manosphere
philosophy
politics
sciences
glosses: Ellipsis of beta male, a man who is less competent or desirable than an alpha male.
examples: text: Many A/B/O stories posit societies where biological imperatives divide people based on wolf pack hierarchies into sexual dominants (alphas), sexual submissives (omegas), and everyone else (betas).
ref: 2013, Kristina Busse, “Pon Farr, Mpreg, Bonds, and the Rise of the Omegaverse”, in Anne Jamison, editor, Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World, page 317:
text: In ASD, the beta also functions as a contrast, as Yuri is assumed to be a beta before his first heat reveals his omega status.
ref: 2017, Marianne Gunderson, "What is an omega? Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction", thesis submitted to the University of Oslo, page 99
text: Betas are usually second in command to the reigning alpha, and omegas belong to the lowest caste of the social hierarchy.
ref: 2018, Laura Campillo Arnaiz, “When the Omega Empath Met the Alpha Doctor: An Analysis of Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics in the Hannibal Fandom”, in Ashton Spacey, editor, The Darker Side of Slash Fan Fiction, page 119:
topics: lifestyle
glosses: In omegaverse fiction, a person of a secondary sex similar to normal humans, lacking the biological drives of alphas and omegas but generally capable of bonding and mating with either.
Hyponyms: closed beta
open beta
paid beta
perpetual beta
public beta
Coordinate terms: sense: sideslip angle
word: alpha
sense: sideslip angle
word: gamma
sense: sideslip angle
word: theta
Derived terms: alpha-beta filter
alphabetagamma
alpha-beta pruning
amyloid beta
amyloid-beta
Becrux
beta-antithrombin
beta-beam
beta blockade
betabux
betacetylmethadol
beta chain
beta city
beta-compactification
beta distribution
beta error
beta female
beta fish
beta function
beta-hydroxyisovalerylshikonin
beta iron
betaish
beta-lactamase
beta-lactamic
betalight
beta-lipoprotein
beta male
betameprodine
betamethadol
betamethasone
betamimetic
beta movement
beta-naphthol
beta orbiter
beta-pleated sheet
betaprodine
betaproteobacterium
beta quartz
beta reduce
beta reduction
beta-sitosterol
beta test
beta-test
beta tester
beta testing
beta-thalassemia
betathromboglobulin
betatron
betavoltaic
betavoltaics
betaware
labetalol
machete beta
metallo-beta-lactamase
New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1
nonbeta
region-beta paradox