Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Changing; changeable or changeful; varying; unstable: as, shifting winds.
  • Shifty.
  • noun A moving or removal; change from one place, position, or state to another; change.
  • noun Recourse to shifts, or petty expedients; artifice; shift.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Changing in place, position, or direction; varying; variable; fickle.
  • adjective Adapted or used for shifting anything.
  • adjective (Naut.) temporary stays that have to be let go whenever the vessel tacks or jibes.
  • adjective ballast which may be moved from one side of a vessel to another as safety requires.
  • adjective See Metacenter.
  • adjective See Switching engine, under Switch.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of shift.
  • noun A shift; a shifting movement.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (of soil) unstable
  • adjective changing position or direction
  • noun the act of moving from one place to another
  • adjective continuously varying

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The economy started to grow, though it had not yet completed all the adjustments in shifting from a wartime to a peacetime economy.

    Think Progress » Biden Attacks GOP Abuse Of Filibuster: ‘You Can’t Govern If You Require A Super Majority’ 2010

  • Except it looked to me like he was watching something, his own collapsing infrastructure perhaps, his expression shifting between blankness and surprise.

    imperfect endings Zoe FitzGerald Carter 2010

  • Except it looked to me like he was watching something, his own collapsing infrastructure perhaps, his expression shifting between blankness and surprise.

    imperfect endings Zoe FitzGerald Carter 2010

  • He straightened up as they entered, his expression shifting from tired to surprised to wary.

    Winter Bloom Tara Heavey 2010

  • Having shaken hands with Roger, he turned to us, his expression shifting to one of slight puzzlement.

    Dreaming in French Megan McAndrew 2009

  • Having shaken hands with Roger, he turned to us, his expression shifting to one of slight puzzlement.

    Dreaming in French Megan McAndrew 2009

  • Having shaken hands with Roger, he turned to us, his expression shifting to one of slight puzzlement.

    Dreaming in French Megan McAndrew 2009

  • The debate flared again last summer after a torrent of neighborhood complaints, and a decision by bank ING Groep N.V. to end its sponsorship because of what it called "shifting priorities."

    San Francisco's New Race Rules: Run Naked, Not Drunk Geoffrey A. Fowler 2011

  • But our government is deciding to do what they call shifting $230 million to repair the Pakistan fighter jets!

    $230 Million Shift from the Needy Here 2008

  • A White House spokesman saying it's still unclear what the Senate will actually consider citing what he calls shifting sands in the Democrats position on Iraq.

    CNN Transcript Feb 23, 2007 2007

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