shift

American  

[shift] / ʃɪft /

verb (used with object)

• shifts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• shifted,
  past participle,  past
• shifting
  present participle

1. to put (something) aside and replace it by another or others; change or exchange.

   to shift friends;

   to shift ideas.

   Synonyms:

   substitute

2. to transfer from one place, position, person, etc., to another.

   to shift the blame onto someone else.

3. Automotive. to change (gears) from one ratio or arrangement to another.

4. Linguistics. to change in a systematic way, especially phonetically.

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verb (used without object)

• shifts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• shifted,
  past participle,  past
• shifting
  present participle

1. to move from one place, position, direction, etc., to another.

2. to manage to get along or succeed by oneself.

3. to get along by indirect methods; use any expediency, trick, or evasion to get along or succeed.

   He shifted through life.

4. to change gears in driving an automobile.

5. Linguistics. to undergo a systematic, especially phonetic, change.

6. to press a shift key, as on a typewriter keyboard.

7. Archaic. to change one's clothes.

noun

• shifts
  plural

1. a change or transfer from one place, position, direction, person, etc., to another.

   a shift in the wind.

2. a person's scheduled period of work, especially the portion of the day scheduled as a day's work when a shop, service, office, or industry operates continuously during both the day and night.

   She prefers the morning shift.

3. a group of workers scheduled to work during such a period.

   The night shift reported.

4. Baseball. a notable repositioning by several fielders to the left or the right of their normal playing position, an occasional strategy against batters who usually hit the ball to the same side of the field.

5. Automotive. a gearshift.

6. Clothing.

   1. a straight, loose-fitting dress worn with or without a belt.

   2. a woman's chemise or slip.

7. Football. a lateral or backward movement from one position to another, usually by two or more offensive players just before the ball is put into play.

8. Mining. a dislocation of a seam or stratum; fault.

9. Music. a change in the position of the left hand on the fingerboard in playing a stringed instrument.

10. Linguistics.

    1. a change or system of parallel changes that affects the sound structure of a language, as the series of related changes in the English vowel system from Middle English to Modern English.

    2. a change in the meaning or use of a word.

11. an expedient; ingenious device.

    Synonyms:

    resort, resource, contrivance

12. an evasion, artifice, or trick.

    Synonyms:

    stratagem, subterfuge, ruse, wile

13. change or substitution.

14. Bridge. shift bid.

15. Agriculture. (in crop rotation)

    1. any of successive crops.

    2. the tract of land used.

16. an act or instance of using the shift key, as on a typewriter keyboard.

idioms

1. shift gears. gear.

shift British  

/ ʃɪft /

verb

1. to move or cause to move from one place or position to another

2. (tr) to change for another or others

3. to change (gear) in a motor vehicle

4. (intr) (of a sound or set of sounds) to alter in a systematic way

5. (intr) to provide for one's needs (esp in the phrase shift for oneself )

6. (intr) to proceed by indirect or evasive methods

7. to remove or be removed, esp with difficulty

   no detergent can shift these stains

8. slang (intr) to move quickly

9. (tr) computing to move (bits held in a store location) to the left or right

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noun

1. the act or an instance of shifting

2. a group of workers who work for a specific period

3. the period of time worked by such a group

4. an expedient, contrivance, or artifice

5. the displacement of rocks, esp layers or seams in mining, at a geological fault

6. an underskirt or dress with little shaping

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• shifter
  noun
• shiftingness
  noun
• reshift
  verb
• transshift
  verb
• intershifting
  adjective
• unshifting
  adjective
• shiftingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• shifts
  plural

Participles

• shifting
  present
• shifted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• shift
  simple
• shifts
  simple
• have shifted
  perfect
• has shifted
  perfect
• am shifting
  progressive
• are shifting
  progressive
• is shifting
  progressive
• have been shifting
  perfect progressive
• has been shifting
  perfect progressive

Past

• shifted
  simple
• had shifted
  perfect
• was shifting
  progressive
• were shifting
  progressive
• had been shifting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will shift
  simple
• will have shifted
  perfect
• will be shifting
  progressive
• will have been shifting
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of shift

First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb shiften “to arrange,” Old English sciftan; cognate with German schichten “to arrange in order,” Old Norse skipta “to divide”; noun derivative of the verb

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Explanation

Shift the verb and shift the noun are very similar in meaning. A shift is a change in something or an adjustment in the way something is done. You can either make a shift (that's the noun), or you can just shift (that's the verb). What makes a shift different from, say, a change is that it implies some kind of movement; a sense that the thing that you're shifting is still the same thing, just moving in a different direction. For example, when you shift gears in a car you're simply moving from one gear to another. If you shift your focus, you're still focused, but the focus has moved. If the government shifts its policy, that policy, while different, is still a policy.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shift shifts shifted shifting

But while the novel is imposing from sheer size alone, the shift in medium lends their elaborate, occasionally exhausting storytelling a curious new potency.

From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2026

Every sight, smell and sound — even felt texture — may shape the conversation, shift mood, or spark an insight.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

There would be "nothing transformative", she said, and certainly no major shift on Palestinian statehood or the peace process, issues that have largely disappeared from Israeli political debate since October 7.

From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026

This would be a seismic shift for Israeli politics.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

That I dreamed the last phone call, the entire shift?

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

After tracing Highway 127 along the edge of Death Valley and State Route 78 through the badlands of Anza Borrego, the journey now shifts to the north.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

Yet traditionally, this is the time workers often treat their career as a plateau, or wait to be pushed out by market shifts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

And so the nurses were absent from the area’s many nursing homes, and the third shifts at the auto parts manufacturing plants had basically gone dark.

From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2026

They expect demand to remain “solid” with shifts in retirement-asset allocation in favor of equities being partially offset by higher interest rates and by disruption related to artificial intelligence.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026

He shifts his cap to conceal his reddening face.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

He denied he had shifted his stance since the Makerfield by-election when he promised not to "re-run" the Brexit debate.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

By recognizing the surviving fragments of these ancient structures, scientists can better reconstruct how tectonic plates descended beneath one another, how volcanic arcs shifted, how continental crust grew, and how once-vast oceans eventually closed.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026

Schools shifted to online-only learning, while many businesses — including Saudi Aramco, the country’s state-owned oil company — were ordered to evacuate headquarters and have all staff work remotely.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

The focus has already shifted to the Fed meeting in December, where futures imply around a 80% chance of a rate increase, UOB adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

The tree swayed in the breeze, and she shifted closer to the trunk.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

Morningstar analyst Martin Szumski told Reuters that the growth area in food delivery was shifting.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

Treasury yields dropped in Asian trade on Thursday as markets digested the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision, with the focus now shifting to the European Central Bank’s meeting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Understanding this mystery could transform how scientists approach Alzheimer's, shifting attention from what causes brain cells to deteriorate toward what allows certain brains to remain healthy and functional.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2026

Each panel is different, their subtly shifting shapes recalling those of the shuttle’s heat-shield tiles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026

Håkon grabbed Ivan and pulled him away from the shifting stones, clearing the rubble just before the top of the pile crashed down.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

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Related Words

• alter
• change
• deviate
• drift
• move
• relocate
• remove
• ship
• shuffle
• transfer
• turn
• vary
• veer

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