beatnik
beatniks
In the 1950s and early 1960s, a young person who wore a black turtleneck and a beret while playing the bongos would probably be called a beatnik.
Beatniks were a youthful subculture that was influenced by jazz music and Beat poets and writers, like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. This unconventional group rejected the status quo of "normal" society, preferring to express themselves artistically. A newspaper columnist coined the term beatnik in 1958, influenced by the Sputnik satellite that had been launched the year before.
Definitions of beatnik
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a member of the beat generation; a nonconformist in dress and behavior
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synonyms:
beat
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type of:
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nonconformist, recusant
someone who refuses to conform to established standards of conduct
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nonconformist, recusant
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘beatnik'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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