Word.ws English Dictionary

switch gears

switch gears is the alternative form of shift gears.

Meaning of shift gears

Verb

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

  1. To change the gear by which motion is transmitted from a powered shaft to another shaft, especially in a motor vehicle.
  2. (idiomatic) To change pace or mode of operation.

Forms of switch gears

third-person singular presentswitches gears
present participleswitching gears
past participleswitched gears
pastswitched gears

Questions about switch gears

What is switch gears the alternative form of?
Switch gears is the alternative form of shift gears.

Words near switch gears in the dictionary

  1. switch codes
  2. switch dealing
  3. switch engine
  4. switch engines
  5. switch gear
  6. switch gears
  7. switch grass
  8. switch grasses
  9. switch hit
  10. switch hits
  11. switch hitter

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: switch gears (page history and authors); shift gears (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: “switch gears.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/switch_gears. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.