downshift

English
WOTD – 10 May 2022

Etymology

The noun is derived from down (preposition) +‎ shift (“slight change or movement”).[1] The verb is derived from the noun.[2]

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈdaʊnʃɪft/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈdaʊnˌʃɪft/
  • Hyphenation: down‧shift

Noun

downshift (plural downshifts) (chiefly Canada, US)

  1. A change of direction or a movement downwards.
  2. A reduction in quality or quantity.
  3. A change in career or lifestyle to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.
  4. (automotive, cycling) A shift of a transmission into a lower gear, as dictated by heavier load on the engine, as for example when climbing a hill or strongly accelerating.
    Hyponym: kickdown
    • 2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 197:
      The driver, Lindsay, gave me a regal wave at the top after he had completed a series of perfect downshifts[.]

Translations

Verb

downshift (third-person singular simple present downshifts, present participle downshifting, simple past and past participle downshifted) (chiefly Canada, US)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To reduce (something) in quality or quantity (as effect, scope, speed, etc.)
      Synonym: attenuate
      • 2019 August 14, A. A. Dowd, “Good Boys Puts a Tween Spin on the R-rated Teen Comedy, to Mostly Funny Effect”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 4 March 2021:
        But in this variation on Superbad's wild night of transgression, downshifting the age of the protagonists from teen to tween actually only enhances the stealth, wide-eyed innocence that secretly drives this genre of pre-college hedonism.
    2. To change (one's career or lifestyle) to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.
    3. (automotive, cycling) To shift (a car or bicycle) into a lower gear.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. To function at a lower rate; to slacken.
    2. To change one's career or lifestyle to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.
    3. (automotive, cycling) To shift a transmission into a lower gear.
      Antonym: upshift
      In a stick-shift vehicle, the driver must downshift when necessary; in an automatic, the transmission downshifts as needed.

Derived terms

Translations
to function at a lower rate — see slacken

References
  1. “downshift, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “downshift, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. “downshift, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “downshift, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading
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