shift

How to use shift in a sentence. Example sentences and definitions for shift.

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Editorial note

During the "day shift", life usually isn't so bad.

Examples15

Definitions23

Parts of speech2

Quick take

an event in which something is displaced without rotation

Meaning at a glance

The clearest senses and uses of shift gathered in one view.

noun

an event in which something is displaced without rotation

noun

a qualitative change

noun

the time period during which you are at work

Definitions

Core meanings and parts of speech for shift.

noun

an event in which something is displaced without rotation

noun

a qualitative change

noun

the time period during which you are at work

noun

the act of changing one thing or position for another; "his switch on abortion cost him the election"

noun

the act of moving from one place to another; "his constant shifting disrupted the class"

noun

(geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other; "they built it right over a geological fault"; "he studied the faulting of the earth's crust"

See also: fault, faulting, fracture, break

noun

a crew of workers who work for a specific period of time

noun

the key on the typewriter keyboard that shifts from lower-case letters to upper-case letters

noun

a woman's sleeveless undergarment

noun

a loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders without a waist

verb

make a shift in or exchange of; "First Joe led; then we switched"

verb

change place or direction; "Shift one's position"

verb

move around; "transfer the packet from his trouser pockets to a pocket in his jacket"

verb

move very slightly; "He shifted in his seat"

verb

move from one setting or context to another; "shift the emphasis"; "shift one's attention"

verb

change in quality; "His tone shifted"

verb

move and exchange for another; "shift the date for our class reunion"

verb

move sideways or in an unsteady way; "The ship careened out of control"

verb

move abruptly; "The ship suddenly lurched to the left"

verb

use a shift key on a keyboard; "She could not shift so all her letters are written in lower case"

verb

change phonetically as part of a systematic historical change; "Grimm showed how the consonants shifted"

verb

change gears; "you have to shift when you go down a steep hill"

verb

lay aside, abandon, or leave for another; "switch to a different brand of beer"; "She switched psychiatrists"; "The car changed lanes"

Example sentences

During the "day shift", life usually isn't so bad.

As far as I can tell, this is the third major shift in the tone of the site.

But then after a fairly leisurely day, come around 5pm or so, the "night shift" starts.

It seems like a small thing, but it is a very significant shift in mindset.

Gradual shifts in the window are hard to notice from the middle, but easy to notice as the "edge" passes over you.

He just left for work a few minutes ago, he's working night shift because they're cranking out cars all night long every night.

It certainly isn't some sort of paradigm shift, and it's hardly an indication that "no one knows what the audience wants.

I don't know how we could have been able to predict the shift in focus to Google+ even with perfect visibility into Google.

These users are shifting to mobile as their primary consumption channel for Facebook.

Catalyze a shift in the world's thought paradigmAbsolutely.

Then, despite the fact that bicycles have existed for a hundred years, they got patents on things like "using levers to shift" and "building a frame out of tube-like structures".

As agriculture labor shifted to much cheaper migrant workers and automation, the people who used to live in these places year round either became less affluent, or moved away.

From what I gather, such a large shift in focus and investment was a unprecedented in Google before Google+.I think Google is a great company, I have a super high opinion of the people that I met there.

> and there's no compilation step or anything -- then it's almost a fundamental paradigm shift for what desktop software could be.\n> It already makes me dream of a word processor I could hack like that, or a music player.

Nothing that Watson learned from the Urban Dictionary could possibly be any dirtier than what I hear from enterprise people all the time:"We use our deep subject matter expertise to deliver value through actionable advice that enables our clients to harness the power of best practices in order to shift their paradigms and achieve 10X deltas against competitive industry metrics.