upbeat

noun Music.

1. an unaccented beat, especially immediately preceding a downbeat.
2. the upward stroke with which a conductor indicates such a beat.

adjective

3. optimistic; happy; cheerful: television dramas with predictably upbeat endings.

noun

1. music
   1. a usually unaccented beat, esp the last in a bar
   2. the upward gesture of a conductor’s baton indicating thisCompare downbeat
2. an upward trend (in prosperity, etc)

adjective

3. informal marked by cheerfulness or optimism

adj.“with a positive mood,” 1947, apparently from the musical noun upbeat (1869), referring to the beat of a bar at which the conductor’s baton is in a raised position; the “optimistic” sense apparently for no other reason than that it sounds like a happy word (the musical upbeat is no more inherently “positive” than any other beat). Expression on the upbeat “improving, getting better” is recorded from 1934.