From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdownbeatdown‧beat1 /ˈdaʊnbiːt/ adjective EMOTIONALnot showing any strong feelings, especially not happy ones OPP upbeat Al was surprisingly downbeat about the party.
Examples from the Corpus
downbeat• The latest economic surveys are more downbeat as a result of the recent decline in world trade.• Mubarak gave a downbeat assessment of the situation in the Middle East.• Cheney may be almost deliberately downbeat, but Bush's choice was unusually illuminating.• The futuristic look is nicely accomplished, without a lot of eye candy: darkish, downbeat, more melancholy than despairing.downbeatdownbeat2 noun [countable] 1 APMthe first note in a bar of music2 APMthe movement a conductor makes to show when this note is to be played or sungExamples from the Corpus
downbeat• Both of them said the word on the same downbeat, which made them burst into laughter at how hilarious they sounded.• Notice that the patterns rarely fall on the downbeat. 