shift is on the Academic Word List.

Pronunciation

change

Plain form
shift

Third-person singular
shifts

Past tense
shifted

Past participle
shifted

Present participle
shifting

  1. (transitive & intransitive) If something shifts, it moves.
    The talk about crime has to be shifted from causes to solutions.
    The desert sands are constantly shifting.
    Let's shift our seats so we can see the stage better.

Singular
shift

Plural
shifts

 
The shift keys are circled in red
  1. (countable) A shift is a movement.
    There has been a major shift in thinking about how to deal with this.
  2. (countable) A shift is the time that workers start and finish work.
    I'm working the night shift this week.
  3. The shift key on a computer changes from small to big letters.