explore vs beat about

explore and beat about both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
explore	No	No	Yes	No
beat about	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, beat about is a hyponym of explore; that is, beat about is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than explore:

Other hyponyms of explore include prospect, google, mapquest, re-explore, cast about, cast around.

explore (verb)	beat about (verb)
inquire into	search anxiously
travel to or penetrate into
inquire into a subject in detail
examine (organs) for diagnostic purposes