beta

US /ˈbeɪtə/ UK /ˈbiːtə/ See IPA manual

Freq #9573

Meanings

1

adj
preliminary or testing stage of a software or hardware product

A beta version.
2

adj
second in order of importance

The candidate, considered a beta, was perceived to be unable to lead the party to victory.
3

noun
An academic grade better than a gamma and worse than an alpha.

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 […].
4

noun
Average sensitivity of a security's price to overall securities market prices.

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.

Thesaurus

Word family

Derived forms alphabetagammaamyloid-betabecruxbeta-antithrombinbeta-barrelbeta-beambeta-blockerbeta-carotenebeta-compactificationbeta-glucanbeta-glucosidasebeta-hydroxyisovalerylshikonin

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

beta version
a preliminary release of software made available for testing before the finished release

Adjective + noun

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Semitic *bayt- Phoenician 𐤁𐤕 (bt)bor. Ancient Greek βῆτᾰ (bêtă)bor. English beta From Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta). Doublet of beth.

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# beta

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈbeɪtə/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈbiːtə/
**Frequency rank:** 9573

## Meanings
1. preliminary or testing stage of a software or hardware product
2. second in order of importance
3. An academic grade better than a gamma and worse than an alpha.
4. Average sensitivity of a security's price to overall securities market prices.

## Examples
- A beta version.
- The candidate, considered a beta, was perceived to be unable to lead the party to victory.
- 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 […].
- 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.

## Derived Forms
- alphabetagamma
- amyloid-beta
- becrux
- beta-antithrombin
- beta-barrel
- beta-beam
- beta-blocker
- beta-carotene
- beta-compactification
- beta-glucan
- beta-glucosidase
- beta-hydroxyisovalerylshikonin

## Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Semitic *bayt- Phoenician 𐤁𐤕 (bt)bor. Ancient Greek βῆτᾰ (bêtă)bor. English beta From Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta). Doublet of beth.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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