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abeam.

On the beam; at a right angle to the centerline or keel of a vessel or aircraft; being at a bearing approximately 90° or 270° relative.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adv/əˈbiːm/Received-Pronunciation/əˈbim/US
  1. On the beam; at a right angle to the centerline or keel of a vessel or aircraft; being at a bearing approximately 90° or 270° relative.

  2. Alongside or abreast; opposite the center of the side of the ship or aircraft.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English a- Proto-Germanic *bagmaz? Proto-West Germanic *baum Old English bēam Middle English bem English beam English abeam From a- (“in the direction of”) + beam (“keel”).

adj/əˈbiːm/Received-Pronunciation/əˈbim/US
  1. Alongside or abreast; opposite the center of the side of the ship or aircraft.

    The island was directly abeam of us.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English a- Proto-Germanic *bagmaz? Proto-West Germanic *baum Old English bēam Middle English bem English beam English abeam From a- (“in the direction of”) + beam (“keel”).

prep/əˈbiːm/Received-Pronunciation/əˈbim/US
  1. Alongside.

    She came abeam the crippled ship.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English a- Proto-Germanic *bagmaz? Proto-West Germanic *baum Old English bēam Middle English bem English beam English abeam From a- (“in the direction of”) + beam (“keel”).

adj/əˈbiːm/Received-Pronunciation/əˈbim/US
  1. Beaming, shining (especially with reference to a person's face or eyes).

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English a- Proto-Germanic *bagmaz? Proto-West Germanic *baum Old English bēam Middle English bem English beam English abeam From a- + beam (“to emit beams of light”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.