shift

shift is a 5-letter English word with 36 senses as transitive verb, noun, and verb in the JumbleFix dictionary. One common meaning is: To divide; to distribute; to apportion. Face value is 11 in Scrabble and 10 in Words With Friends. Use the entries below when you need a playable sense, a nearby word, or another arrangement of the same letters.

5 letters · Scrabble 11 · Words With Friends 10 · 36 senses

Definitions

1. transitive verb. To divide; to distribute; to apportion.
2. transitive verb. To change the place of; to move or remove from one place to another; as, to shift a burden from one shoulder to another; to shift the blame.
3. transitive verb. To change the position of; to alter the bearings of; to turn; as, to shift the helm or sails.
4. transitive verb. To exchange for another of the same class; to remove and to put some similar thing in its place; to change; as, to shift the clothes; to shift the scenes.
5. transitive verb. To change the clothing of; -- used reflexively.
6. transitive verb. To put off or out of the way by some expedient.
7. transitive verb. The act of shifting.
8. transitive verb. The act of putting one thing in the place of another, or of changing the place of a thing; change; substitution.
9. transitive verb. Something frequently shifted; especially, a woman's under-garment; a chemise.
10. transitive verb. The change of one set of workmen for another; hence, a spell, or turn, of work; also, a set of workmen who work in turn with other sets; as, a night shift.
11. transitive verb. In building, the extent, or arrangement, of the overlapping of plank, brick, stones, etc., that are placed in courses so as to break joints.
12. transitive verb. A breaking off and dislocation of a seam; a fault.
13. transitive verb. A change of the position of the hand on the finger board, in playing the violin.
14. noun. the act of changing one thing or position for another

    "his switch on abortion cost him the election"

    Synonyms: switch, switching

15. noun. the act of moving from one place to another

    "his constant shifting disrupted the class"

    Synonyms: shifting

16. noun. a loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders without a waist

    Synonyms: chemise, sack

17. noun. a woman's sleeveless undergarment

    Synonyms: chemise, shimmy, slip, teddy

18. noun. the key on the typewriter keyboard that shifts from lower-case letters to upper-case letters
19. noun. a qualitative change

    Synonyms: transformation, transmutation

20. noun. an event in which something is displaced without rotation

    Synonyms: displacement

21. noun. a crew of workers who work for a specific period of time
22. noun. (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other

    "they built it right over a geological fault"

    "he studied the faulting of the earth's crust"

    Synonyms: break, fault, faulting, fracture

23. noun. the time period during which you are at work
24. verb. make a shift in or exchange of

    "First Joe led; then we switched"

    Synonyms: switch

25. verb. move and exchange for another

    "shift the date for our class reunion"

26. verb. lay aside, abandon, or leave for another

    "switch to a different brand of beer"

    "She switched psychiatrists"

    Synonyms: change, switch

27. verb. change gears

    "you have to shift when you go down a steep hill"

28. verb. move from one setting or context to another

    "shift the emphasis"

    "shift one's attention"

29. verb. change in quality

    "His tone shifted"

30. verb. change phonetically as part of a systematic historical change

    "Grimm showed how the consonants shifted"

31. verb. use a shift key on a keyboard

    "She could not shift so all her letters are written in lower case"

32. verb. move abruptly

    "The ship suddenly lurched to the left"

    Synonyms: lurch, pitch

33. verb. change place or direction

    "Shift one's position"

    Synonyms: dislodge, reposition

34. verb. move sideways or in an unsteady way

    "The ship careened out of control"

    Synonyms: careen, tilt, wobble

35. verb. move very slightly

    "He shifted in his seat"

    Synonyms: agitate, budge, stir

36. verb. move around

    "transfer the packet from his trouser pockets to a pocket in his jacket"

    Synonyms: transfer

Synonyms

switch, switching, shifting, chemise, sack, shimmy, slip, teddy, transformation, transmutation, displacement, break, fault, faulting, fracture, change, lurch, pitch, dislodge, reposition, careen, tilt, wobble, agitate

Common word forms

shifts, shifted, shifter, shiftful, shifting, shiftable, shiftless

Words from these letters

If you are holding these tiles, the unscrambler for SHIFT lists every valid word you can make from the same letters, including shorter plays.