Word.ws English Dictionary

change up

change up verb: to throw a pitch at a much slower than expected speed.

Verb

change up (third-person singular simple present changes up, present participle changing up, simple past and past participle changed up)

  1. (intransitive) To throw a pitch at a much slower than expected speed.
    • He changed up on Wilson after three fastballs and struck him out.
  2. (intransitive) To confuse someone by doing something unexpected or in an unexpected way.
    • I thought that we were going to study the project some more, but then he came back from the weekend and changed up, making it a top priority.
  3. (informal, transitive) To vary.
    • change it up
    • The more accessories you have (cheaper than clothing and can be worn multiple times) it's easier to change up your look. So, imagine having one dress that you can accessorise 4 different ways, simply with a shoe change […]2019, Chitra Balasubramaniam, Change Your Look Change Your Life
  4. To change to a higher gear in a vehicle.
    Synonyms:
    upshift

Synonyms of change up

Forms of change up

third-person singular presentchanges up
present participlechanging up
past participlechanged up
pastchanged up

Words formed from change up

Questions about change up

What does change up mean?
Change up means to throw a pitch at a much slower than expected speed.
What part of speech is change up?
Change up is a verb.
What is the past tense of change up?
The past tense of change up is changed up.

Words near change up in the dictionary

  1. change the channel
  2. change the game
  3. change the leg
  4. change the record
  5. change the subject
  6. change up
  7. change wheel
  8. change wheels
  9. change-over
  10. change-overs
  11. change-ringing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: change up (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “change up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/change_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.