Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To shift a motor vehicle into a lower gear.
- v. To reduce the speed, rate, or intensity of something.
- v. To simplify or reduce one's expectations or commitments, especially in work hours: "28 percent said that they had downshifted and voluntarily cut back on their income in some way ... to reflect changes in priorities” ( Carey Goldberg).
- v. To shift (a motor vehicle) into a lower gear.
- v. To reduce in speed, rate, or intensity: "The president is downshifting his confrontational rhetoric and reaffirming his readiness to talk arms control” ( Newsweek).
- v. To simplify or reduce one's commitments in (one's life).
Wiktionary
- v. To shift a transmission into a lower gear.
- v. To function at a lower rate.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a change to a lower gear in a car or bicycle
- n. a change from a financially rewarding but stressful career to a less well paid but more fulfilling one
Etymologies
- From down + shift (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Time to downshift from the Bush Derangement Syndrome, folks. burritoboy Says:”
“Fleming managed a convincing attacca downshift from the "éternellement lumineux" young bodies of "La maison" to an intoxicated, drill-sergeant bark for "Les deux guerriers.”
“Baby boomers decide to "downshift" -- fewer CDs. more time -- have figured this out: Owen Byrd and Maria Lines of Palo Alto, Calif., a public-interest lawyer and an engineer, decided to cut their $100,000 income by $20,000 this year to get an extra day at home.”
“The auto has a paddle-shifter on each side of the steering wheel - right for up, left for down - and uncannily the system has a device called downshift rev matching, causing one passenger to remark: "I thought this was an automatic.”
“Mr. Nicolau had earlier this year said the company had the flexibility to ramp up 2010 production to 2.7 million ounces but Monday said that wouldn't be appropriate, given the recent "downshift" in the global economic recovery.”
“But the Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis is grounded in a more familiar context; I'm not suggesting unseen dimensions or the need for ufonauts to "downshift" to our level our consciousness.”
“Fighting constantly to "downshift" our family routine.”
“Or a dual-mode air card for a laptop that would automatically "downshift" from 4G to 3G when it traveled to an area where the WiMAX rollout hadn't yet arrived.”
“My wife is not warming to this "downshift" position as easily, however.”
“HSBC forecast that import growth would "moderate" due to slowing domestic demand and a "downshift" in international manufacturing.”
The Wall Street Journal: Affordable-Housing Delays Threaten China's Economy
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘downshift’.
-
EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
-
Mountain Biking
Words that relate to bicycling or mountain biking
crank, podium, attack position, bonk, rock garden, babyheads, bunny hop, chain, chainring, clipless, freeride, slicks and 204 more...
-
Verbal palette?
Words I like to use or would like to use in the near future. Totally random.
convalescence, bellibone, persnickety, contiguous, pabulum, dummary, preliminary, pristine, funny fuse, dolt, shitless, nebulous and 50 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for downshift.
lea I just heard from the radio, that Kate Moss was proud to tell about her downshift from owning 5 departments to 4 departments. That's my girl! (WTF?) Mar 26, 2009