downshift meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

downshift

noun

UK /ˈdaʊnʃɪft/ · US /ˈdaʊnˌʃɪft/

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

Canada, US A change of direction or a movement downwards.

Canada, US A reduction in quality or quantity.

Canada, US A change in career or lifestyle to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.

Automotive, Cycling, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports, Transport, Vehicles Canada, US 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.

The driver, Lindsay, gave me a regal wave at the top after he had completed a series of perfect downshifts[.]2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 197:

Related terms: stickshift, drive stick

downshift

verb

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

Canada, US To reduce (something) in quality or quantity (as effect, scope, speed, etc.)

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.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 04 Mar 2021:

Canada, US To change (one's career or lifestyle) to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.

Automotive, Cycling, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports, Transport, Vehicles Canada, US To shift (a car or bicycle) into a lower gear.

He brought the car to a stop before the bridge, downshifted and then put her at the road again in a rising disciplined snarl along the N.6 to Cannes.a. 1962, Ernest Hemingway, chapter 27, in The Garden of Eden, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1986, →ISBN, page 229:

Canada, US To function at a lower rate; to slacken.

Canada, US To change one's career or lifestyle to one which is not as well paid but less stressful and more personally rewarding.

Automotive, Cycling, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports, Transport, Vehicles Canada, US To shift a transmission into a lower gear.

In a stick-shift vehicle, the driver must downshift when necessary; in an automatic, the transmission downshifts as needed.

Derived terms: downshifter, downshifting