five-speed
Americannoun
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(in an automotive vehicle or bicycle) a transmission or system of gears having five forward gear ratios.
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an automotive vehicle or bicycle having such a transmission or system of gears.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of five-speed
First recorded in 1900–05
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It also had a slick five-speed manual transmission, peppy engine and nimble steering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
In a separate review, it noted the car’s “finely balanced handling, its superb five-speed gearbox and its jewel-like twin-cam, sixteen-valve, four-cylinder engine.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 14, 2021
Hansen graduated from high school early to start driving a five-speed transmission straight tanker for her then-husband’s family’s bulk-gasoline plant.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 15, 2017
The car gets Smart’s 89-horsepower, three-cylinder engine coupled with six-speed automatic or five-speed manual transmissions.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 6, 2016
Likewise, the 3 Wheeler’s five-speed manual transmission, from the midships of a Mazda Miata, is quick and assured, no doubt vastly more tractable than the nonsynch-ronized two-speed gearboxes of prewar days.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2016
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
