BETA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Beta mean? 

• BETA (noun)
  The noun BETA has 2 senses:

1. the 2nd letter of the Greek alphabet

2. beets

  Familiarity information: BETA used as a noun is rare.

• BETA (adjective)
  The adjective BETA has 2 senses:

1. second in order of importance

2. preliminary or testing stage of a software or hardware product

  Familiarity information: BETA used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BETA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The 2nd letter of the Greek alphabet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("beta" is a kind of...):

alphabetic character; letter; letter of the alphabet (the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech)

Holonyms ("beta" is a member of...):

Greek alphabet (the alphabet used by ancient Greeks)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Beets

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Beta; genus Beta

Hypernyms ("Beta" is a kind of...):

caryophylloid dicot genus (genus of relatively early dicotyledonous plants including mostly flowers)

Chenopodiaceae; family Chenopodiaceae; goosefoot family (includes spinach and beets)

Meronyms (members of "Beta"):

beet; Beta vulgaris; common beet (biennial Eurasian plant usually having a swollen edible root; widely cultivated as a food crop)

• BETA (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Second in order of importance

Context example:

the candidate, considered a beta male, was perceived to be unable to lead his party to victory

Similar:

important; of import (of great significance or value)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Preliminary or testing stage of a software or hardware product

Context example:

beta software

Similar:

explorative; exploratory (serving in or intended for exploration or discovery)

 Context examples 

This bacteria is nonmotile, beta hemolytic and urease and porphyrin positive.

(Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, NCI Thesaurus)

This bacteria is catalase negative, not beta hemolytic and does not hydrolyze esculin.

(Actinomyces meyerii, NCI Thesaurus)

This bacteria is catalase positive, not beta hemolytic and sensitive to beta lactam antibiotics.

(Actinomyces neuii, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes long-chain-fatty-acid-CoA ligase 1 protein, plays a role in the activation of long-chain fatty acids for both lipid biosynthesis and fatty acid degradation via beta oxidation.

(ACSL1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

The amount of energy from any type of ionizing radiation (e.g., alpha, beta, gamma, neutrons, etc.) deposited in any medium (e.g. water, tissue, air).

(Absorbed Radiation Dose, NCI Thesaurus)

Pancreatic beta cells were engineered with a gene that encodes a photoactivatable adenylate cyclase (PAC) enzyme.

(Researchers Develop Insulin-Producing Cells Activated by Light for Diabetes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The team examined data from 465 people with early-stage MS who were enrolled in a large clinical trial originally designed to evaluate an MS drug called interferon beta-1b.

(Vitamin D Levels Predict Multiple Sclerosis Progression, NIH)

This gene plays a role in the transforming growth factor-beta signal transduction pathway through serine/threonine specificity.

(ACVR1 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene plays a role in the transforming growth factor-beta signal transduction pathway.

(ACVR1B Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene is involved in the mediation of cell-surface receptor interactions for the TGF-beta superfamily of ligands.

(ACVRL1 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)