Word.ws English Dictionary

shift the dial

shift the dial verb: to make a significant change or impact in a particular situation or context.

Verb

shift the dial (third-person singular simple present shifts the dial, present participle shifting the dial, simple past and past participle shifted the dial)

  1. (idiomatic) To make a significant change or impact in a particular situation or context.
    • The influential speech by the politician aimed to shift the dial on public opinion regarding climate change.
    Synonyms:
    change the landscape

Synonyms of shift the dial

  • change the landscape

Forms of shift the dial

third-person singular presentshifts the dial
present participleshifting the dial
past participleshifted the dial
pastshifted the dial

Questions about shift the dial

What does shift the dial mean?
Shift the dial means to make a significant change or impact in a particular situation or context.
What part of speech is shift the dial?
Shift the dial is a verb.
What is the past tense of shift the dial?
The past tense of shift the dial is shifted the dial.

Words near shift the dial in the dictionary

  1. shift registers
  2. shift stick
  3. shift sticks
  4. shift the cut
  5. shift the deckchairs on the Titanic
  6. shift the dial
  7. shift the goalposts
  8. shift work
  9. shift worker
  10. shift workers
  11. shifta

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shift the dial (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “shift the dial.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shift_the_dial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.