high gear

noun

1
2
: a state of intense or maximum activity
usually used with into or in
a project in high gear

Examples of high gear in a Sentence

She shifted the car into high gear.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
This summer, the arena is closed so the majority of the renovations — focused primarily on the lower half of the venue — will kick into high gear. Kenneth R. Gosselin, Hartford Courant, 2 June 2025 So Fuller, too, keeps shifting her diction into high gear. James Marcus, New Yorker, 2 June 2025 Skirting the Soviet censorship regime At the end of World War II, Soviet censorship shifted into high gear in an effort to suppress a Western culture deemed threatening or decadent. Richard Gunderman, The Conversation, 28 May 2025 So the whole musical theater route was kind of like kicking it into high gear, like really taking performing and singing and music a lot more seriously. Chyna Blackmon, Charlotte Observer, 27 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for high gear

Word History

First Known Use

1889, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of high gear was in 1889

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Cite this Entry

“High gear.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/high%20gear. Accessed 15 Jun. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on high gear

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