SHIFTING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shifting mean? 

• SHIFTING (noun)
  The noun SHIFTING has 1 sense:

1. the act of moving from one place to another

  Familiarity information: SHIFTING used as a noun is very rare.

• SHIFTING (adjective)
  The adjective SHIFTING has 3 senses:

1. continuously varying

2. changing position or direction

3. (of soil) unstable

  Familiarity information: SHIFTING used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHIFTING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of moving from one place to another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

shift; shifting

Context example:

his constant shifting disrupted the class

Hypernyms ("shifting" is a kind of...):

motion; move; movement (the act of changing location from one place to another)

Derivation:

shift (change place or direction)

shift (move very slightly)

• SHIFTING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Continuously varying

Context example:

taffeta with shifting colors

Similar:

variable (liable to or capable of change)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Changing position or direction

Synonyms:

shifting; shifty

Context example:

shifty winds

Similar:

unsteady (subject to change or variation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(of soil) unstable

Synonyms:

shifting; unfirm

Context example:

unfirm earth

Similar:

loose (not compact or dense in structure or arrangement)

 Context examples 

Shifting from one opiate to another to maintain effectiveness in analgesia while minimizing the side-effect profile.

(Opioid Rotation, NCI Thesaurus)

Activation of the D2 dopamine receptor has the opposite effect, shifting the DARPP-32 population toward the threonine-75 phosphorylated form.

(CK1/CDK5 Regulation Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

But the man, shifting the club from right to left, coolly caught him by the under jaw, at the same time wrenching downward and backward.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Alleyne followed close at her heels, with his mind in a whirl at this black welcome and sudden shifting of all his plans and hopes.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The seasonality of bird migration is shifting in response to climate change.

(Seasonality of bird migration responds to environmental cues, NSF)

Something is shifting from me in some strange way, and I feel freer than I have been of late!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This agent acts as an inverse agonist that combines with, and stabilizes the inactive form of the H1-receptor, shifting the H1 receptor equilibrium toward the inactive state.

(Doxylamine, NCI Thesaurus)

There is but such a quantity of merit between them; just enough to make one good sort of man; and of late it has been shifting about pretty much.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

There was no pulling and hauling on sheets and tackles, no shifting of topsails, no work at all for the sailors to do except to steer.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He pointed out to me the shifting colours of the landscape and the appearances of the sky.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)