Meanings
phrase
- idiomaticI don't know; I have no idea.
Beats me how he finds out when we're goofing off.
2 more examples
Do you have any idea what "tergiversate" means? Beats me!
"Flowering shrubs don't thrive in the subterranean caverns from which geysers spring," suggested Bradley. Olson shook his head. "It beats me," he said.
1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
phraseUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see beats, me.
Similar
Origin
Translations
Polish bo ja wiem
- bo ja wiemI have no idea
Portuguese sei lá
- sei láI have no idea
Swedish vem vet, säg det
- vem vetI have no idea
- säg detI have no idea
Cite this entry
APA
beats me. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beats%20me
MLA
“beats me.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beats%20me. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “beats me,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beats%20me.
Source: beats me on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.