Meanings
nounstory beat (plural story beats)
plural story beats
- An interaction, between characters in a drama, that advances the plot
The stakes are low and the story beats are incidental amid the rush of largely mild visual gags and verbal sallies like “Blood Island! So called because it’s the exact shape of some blood!”
2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits :”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 28 May 2013
Cite this entry
APA
story beat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/story%20beat
MLA
“story beat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/story%20beat. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “story beat,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/story%20beat.
Source: story beat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.